Chan, F., Boehm, A.B., Barth, J.A., Chornesky, E.A., Dickson, A.G., Feely, R.A., Hales, B., Hill, T.M., Hofmann, G., Ianson, D., Klinger, T., Largier, J., Newton, J., Pedersen, T.F., Somero, G.N., Sutula, M., Wakefield, W.W., Waldbusser, G.G., Weisberg, S

A new report released by the California Ocean Science Trust and written by a panel of 20 scientists from California, Oregon and Washington, synthesized our current understanding of how the Puget Sound and other coastal waters along western North America are being impacted by ocean acidification. The report examined local reasons for why the west coast is experiencing exacerbated acidification compared to other oceanic regions. A major factor includes the massive amounts of nitrogen and carbon that are dumped into estuaries (particularly the Puget Sound) by municipal wastewater treatment plants and agricultural runoff, causing extreme plankton blooms that then lead to hypoxia and significant increases in CO2 production. Another localized factor is the characteristic of water being upwelled on the western coast. Water being upwelled around the Puget Sound contain naturally high levels of CO2 and lower pH. These local factors combined with the global increase in oceanic CO2 concentrations has lead the West Coast of North America to be one of the regions of the world most severely impacted by changes to ocean chemistry. The report concluded on a hopeful note, with a reminder that the local processes affecting ocean acidification are currently dominating over oceanic processes. Therefore, regions like the Puget Sound can take meaningful local action to mitigate these changes.