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Source record · 2025

Ocean Acidification: Another Planetary Boundary Crossed

Helen S. Findlay, Richard A. Feely, Li-Qing Jiang, Greg Pelletier, Nina Bednaršek

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Type
Peer-reviewed research
Publication
Global Change Biology 31(6), e70238
Version used
Published article; 17-page open-access PDF hosted by Old Dominion University
Source date
9 June 2025
Recorded in Atlas
22 October 2026
License
Creative Commons Attribution. Original authors credited; no figures reproduced.
DOI
10.1111/gcb.70238

First published 9 June 2025. The assessment uses pre-industrial baselines and 2020-decade estimates; Atlas registration in October 2026 is not the research date. No separate validity period has been established for the finding.

How Atlas uses this source

What the ocean average leaves out

Introduction, PDF pp. 1–2: carbonate chemistry, aragonite and the original 20% boundary.

Distinguish a change in mineral saturation from a change in pH. The original boundary was expressed relative to pre-industrial saturation.

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Supports this claim:The measure concerns shell-building chemistry
Methods 2.1.2–2.1.4, PDF pp. 3–4; Results 3.1 and 3.2, pp. 6–7; Figure 4, p. 12.

Compare the surface and 200-metre area estimates in section 3.2. Section 3.1 gives the global mean and its uncertainty; Methods identifies the 2020 decade and the precautionary upper pre-industrial baseline.

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Supports this claim:Looking below the surface changes the picture
Discussion, PDF pp. 10–13; proposed 10% boundary on pp. 12–13 and limitations on p. 13.

Read the proposed boundary alongside the limitations: coastal uncertainty, omitted extremes, one chemical indicator and incomplete biological thresholds.

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Supports this claim:A stricter warning line is a proposal