Ocean Surrounding Antarctica Facing Growing Human Threats, Study Says

The world’s most pristine ocean — the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica — is facing increasing threats from human activity, including rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, overfishing, pollution, and introduction of alien species, according to a new study by British and American scientists. The study, published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, says that some of the threats are local or regional, such as overfishing, air and water pollution from tourism and shipwrecks, and chemical and sewage pollution from research bases and ships operating in Antarctica. But the study said that potentially graver threats come from global problems, including rising sea temperatures and increasing ocean acidification, both of which are linked to the burning of fossil fuels. Southern Ocean species have become uniquely adapted to extremely cold conditions and changes in these conditions could endanger marine ecosystems, the study said. The Southern Ocean is particularly vulnerable to acidification because its frigid waters more rapidly absorb carbon dioxide, which in high concentrations acidify waters and threaten some forms of marine life.