World Ocean Observatory newsletter

In this issue:

• Our Ocean Space Successfully Launches
   
• World Ocean Video
   
• The Sea Connects All Things - A New Public Presentation

"The Sea Connects All Things"

 
Dear W2O subscribers,

There are two corrections to be made to the newsletter that went out on Monday 12/6 with regard to COP 16 in Cancun:

Changing Climate, Changing Oceans

Mark Spalding, The Ocean Foundation¹

Global climate and the world ocean are inexorably linked. This is not merely because the ocean's ecosystems, like all others on earth, are affected by climate changes, but also because it is the oceans that drive planetary climate and weather. Changing climate changes the marine environment, but so too does a changing marine environment contribute to global climate change.

Water: Elixir of Life, on Land and in the Sea

Tundi Agardy, PhD.

Water makes life possible - no other element is so universally required by living things. The bulk of our bodies is water, and all life on earth depends on it, either for drinking, nurturing eggs and young, or providing living space. Even ocean creatures rely on freshwater; all water is inexorably linked. This essential connection between freshwater and seawater underpins the great array of life in the sea.

Welcome to the World Ocean Observatory

In 1998, The Independent World Commission on the Future of the Oceans, chaired by Mario Soares of Portugal, issued the report, The Ocean: Our Future, its seminal analysis and recommendations for ocean policy in the 21st century.

High Seas: The Last Frontier for Oceans Management

Charlotte de Fontaubert, Ph.D.

The high seas are open ocean and deep-sea areas that lie beyond
national jurisdiction, covering more than a third of the Earth's
surface. Despite their extensive nature, these areas remain woefully
understudied and misunderstood. Until recent decades it was widely
assumed that below a depth of a few thousand meters, life was almost
impossible and mostly irrelevant.

Dropping pH in the Oceans Causing a Rising Tide of Alarm

Tundi Agardy, Ph.D.

One of the most unexpected consequences of global climate change may
well turn out to be one of the most severe in terms of impacts on life
on earth. As continued carbon emissions accelerate global warming, the
carbon dioxide contained in those emissions is able to silently yet
dramatically reduce the alkalinity of the oceans. And as the pH drops,
marine organisms that produce shells and carbonate skeletons grow weak
and die off.

Ocean Zoning is Coming! Ocean Zoning is Coming!
Music to Some Ears, A Fearsome Sound to Others

Tundi Agardy, Ph.D.

Ocean zoning may be an inevitable future development as nations and
communities struggle to better manage marine resources and limit
negative impacts on ecosystems. Yet by all accounts, the "z word" is
used with trepidation by decision makers, even in places where the move
from land use planning to similar spatial management offshore has
already begun.