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Ocean acidification is the undersea equivalent of climate change, as the ocean absorbs 1/4 of the excess CO2 in our atmosphere.

Over time, this is going to have disastrous effects on marine life. The documentary A Sea Change takes a look at some of the consequences surrounding ocean acidification.

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A new study by nearly 30 of the world’s best scientists concludes that we have crossed three of the world’s nine thresholds. It is not only about climate change.

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It’s also important because it deals with the naming of carbon dioxide as a pollutant - something currently being contested by a “smoking gun” White House memo. The lawsuit has been brought up under the Clean Water Act, which regulates pollutants in water. From how I see it, this means that if EPA is found to be in the wrong under the Clean Water Act here, then CO2 will have been legally deemed a pollutant.

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Most of us are familiar with the idea of carbon dioxide (CO2) from industrial development leaching into the atmosphere, causing global warming. The effect of CO2 on ocean temperatures and acidification is much less well publicised, but just as worrying. In fact, it’s a potential cause of famine.

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Leading experts at the 2009 Aspen Environment Forum called ocean acidification caused by high levels of CO2 emissions a “planet changer”, and predicted that all coral in the ocean would be in danger of dying off by mid-century if we continued to burn fossil fuel at our current rate.

Ken Caldeira of Carnegie Institution, Martin Hoffert of New York University, and Dawn Martin of SeaWeb told attendees at the session “The Ocean Carbon Cycle: Facing the Damage” that we haven’t taken the issue seriously enough, and expressed dismay at the lack of media coverage for such an important issue.

“People would be more upset if you told them that their favorite TV show was canceled than if you told them that entire biomes would disappear.” - Ken Caldeira, Carnegie Institution

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The geriatric discovery (Leiopathes sp.) is a deep water tree-like coral, which grows only a few micrometers every year. That’s an annual growth rate at around the size of a human blood cell. And the Leiopathes sp. wasn’t the only old creature found. Also discovered was a 2,742 year old gold coral (Gerardia sp.).

The discovery raises needed awareness about the delicate, fragile ecosystems of deep sea reefs, which are endangered due to trawling and global warming.

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The three organizations want you to sign a largely symbolic online pledge that serves as an “International Declaration of Reef Rights.” Body Glove is throwing in some prizes such as a wet suit as an additional incentive for us to take a few minutes to sign the pledge.

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Aimed at kicking off the International Year of the Reef, the Bonaire 2008 expedition launched earlier this month and runs through Jan.30. A team of researchers from several universities is surveying the coral ecosystems off the island of Bonaire to try and understand why those reefs remain so healthy while others in the Caribbean are suffering.

Photos and videos from the expedition are being posted at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Ocean Explorer Website. NOAA is sponsoring the investigation.

Researchers are studying both the shallow and deeper-water regions of the Bonaire reef systems, using both divers and robotic devices called Autonomous Underwater Vehicles, or AUVs.

Three AUVs will explore the reef’s “Twilight Zone,” a little-understood area that lies about 65 to 150 meters below the ocean’s surface. The devices will measure features like water currents, temperatures, acidity levels, dissolve oxygen levels and more, enabling scientists to develop a “detailed snapshot” of the reef system at all levels.

“We believe this is the first science expedition using multiple AUVs to chart Bonaire’s reefs and likely the first to do so on coral reefs anywhere,” said Mark Patterson, expedition leader and a researcher with the Virginia Institute of Marine Science at the College of William & Mary. “This is important because of scale, AUVs obtain wide-area data, allowing scientists to pinpoint further investigation.”

Will researchers find the key to the Bonaire reef system’s health, and will it help us find ways to protect and save other reefs around the world? With some scientists predicting 98 percent of the world’s coral reefs could be doomed by 2050, the answers can’t come soon enough.