Science and collaboration

At the turn of the 20th century scientists began to be concerned about the potential impacts of increasing atmospheric CO₂ absorption by the oceans. The research field has grown exponentially since the first ocean acidification studies began in late 1990s. 

This rapid increase in studies and the emergence of national or multi-national projects came with a need for international coordination and collaboration to make the most of scientific effort. The OA-ICC organises and facilitates activities to help advance ocean acidification science with our partners around the world.

For example, the OA-ICC supported the creation of a Global ocean acidification observing network (GOA-ON), which aims to share ocean acidification data and increase monitoring in areas where data is currently scarce, including the African coasts and the Indian Ocean. Other OA-ICC activities include the organization of expert workshops on topics such as the management and access to global ocean acidification data, the development of best practices and the standardization of methodology to increase intercomparability of results. The OA-ICC also provides online open access resources such as the OA-ICC news stream, bibliographic database and a compilation of ocean acidification experimental data.

Leading scientists act as focal points for the various activities, so the project benefits from input from several of the most prominent experts in ocean acidification research.