The growing evidence of potential biological impacts
of ocean acidification affirms that this global change phenomenon
may pose a serious threat to marine organisms
and ecosystems. Whilst ocean acidification will occur everywhere,
it will happen more rapidly in some regions than in
others. Due to the high CO2 solubility in the cold surface
waters of high-latitude seas, these areas are expected to experience
the strongest changes in seawater chemistry due to
ocean acidification. This will be most pronounced in the Arctic
Ocean. If atmospheric pCO2 levels continue to rise at
current rates, about 10% of the Arctic surface waters will
be corrosive for aragonite by 2018 (Steinacher et al., 2009).
By 2050 one-half of the Arctic Ocean will be sub-saturated
with respect to aragonite. By the end of this century corrosive
conditions are projected to have spread over the entire
Arctic Ocean (Steinacher et al., 2009). In view of these
rapid changes in seawater chemistry, marine organisms and
ecosystems in the Arctic are considered particularly vulnerable
to ocean acidification. With this in mind, the European
Project on Ocean Acidification (EPOCA) chose the Arctic
Ocean as one of its focal areas of research