Ocean acidification by rising atmospheric CO2 is a tipping point of the carbon-climate system that limits future ocean CO2 uptake and threatens ocean fauna. The Siberian Arctic Ocean is a hot spot of acidification. This is driven by additional and likely increasing CO2 production from (1) decomposition of organic matter released from thawing land permafrost and (2) oxidation of methane released from subsea sources.
The OASIS project will assess the impact of both on ocean acidification. Central questions:
- To what extent does degradation of permafrost-released organic matter contribute to acidification of the Siberian Arctic Ocean?
- To what extent does methane oxidation accelerate acidification of the Siberian Arctic Ocean but also mitigate methane emissions?
These questions will be targeted with a combination of field and laboratory experiments including a suite of isotopic tools, together with large-scale databases.
