House of Commons
Parliament

Image source, PA

The day's business begins with questions to the Scotland Secretary David Mundell, followed immediately - as ever - with Prime Ministers Questions at midday. 

At around 12.40pm, Nicky Morgan will table her ten minute rule bill aiming to tackle discrimination faced by transgender people.

In the afternoon, it's the second reading of the Bus Services Bill - which aims to strengthen franchising powers at the local level.  

The day will finish with the adjournment debate tabled by Chris Stephens on the funding of Equality and Human Rights Commission. 

Select Committee
Parliament

Dr Melody Clark, British Antarctic Survey, says that as a biologist, she knows that "just because an animal looks fine, it may not be fine".

"If there is a change in environment, you have to compensate for it somewhere," she says.

"We are only just starting to get a handle on the subtlety of changes" in organisms due to changes in ocean chemistry, she says, and that it's not currently possible to say if the Antarctic Ocean has already been "adversely affected" by ocean acidification due to the lack of data.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, Bermuda Online

Labour's Graham Stringer asks what impact of ocean acidification has been observed in Bermuda.

Professor Bates says the 20 years of research has produced a "mixed message", with evidence that the coral reefs around Bermuda are more resilient than in other parts of the globe.

The coral reef appears to be "compensating" for the effects of ocean acidification, and are growing at an increased rate of 30%, he says.

The pH levels of the ocean in Bermuda is rising at an accelerated rate though, he says.

"My fear is, that as soon as the ocean becomes less productive, the energy required for corals to calcify will have a very detrimental effect going forward."

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The committee is now hearing from the second panel of witnesses this morning:

• Dr Melody Clark, Project Leader, British Antarctic Survey
• Professor Nicholas Bates, Director of Research, Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences

Dr Clark and Professor Bates cover very different ocean ecosystems within the British Overseas Territories.

Committee Chair Stephen Metcalfe asks the panel where the available funding should be directed.

Dr Clark says she would like to see more available for polar research, and that the UK programme has been essential to the knowledge gained to date about ocean acidification.

Professor Bates says it would be "ideal" to be able to cover research in all the very different ocean ecosystems of the world.

He says there is currently "a lack of understanding" of what is happening in the oceans in many regions.

Select Committee
Parliament

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Conservative Chris Green asks Dr Ned Garnett why research programmes are not being extended.

Dr Garnett, Associate Director of Research at the Natural Environment Research Council, says its not common practice to extend programmes as other research takes over from work already done.

Dr Garnett says it is "a stretch" to fund national programmes and data collation from the current funding available to the Research Council.

"Can we divert funds from elsewhere?" asks Mr Green.

Dr Garnett says the Natural Environment Research Council's funding is "flat", but there are other funds for cilmate change research available centrally.

He points out that marine science research has been identified as a priority by the G7 leaders.

"I think there is a real opportunity here," he says, as "clearly oceans are an international issue".

Select Committee
Parliament

Labour's Graham Stringer asks about the kinds of research and experimentation taking place to assess the impact of C02 emissions on the marine ecosystem.

Dr Carol Turley says experiments have been done to model coral reef growth if the ocean chemistry was set at pre-industrial revolution levels.  

She says the experiment found that coral growth has been reduced by 8% since the industrial revolution.

Dr Ceri Lewis says experiments in other parts of the globe have gathered data showing the the UK's oceans are reaching a point of "saturation" at which damage to ecosystems begins to happen.  

She says impacts are currently small, but the cost to industries globally "are huge".

Ocean acidification occurs when atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) is dissolved into sea water, combining with the H2O to form carbonic acid .  

Carbonic acid lowers the pH level of the sea water over time, causing it to become more acidic and leading to an increase in the hydrogen ion concentration of the water.  

This in turn reduces the ability of sea organisms such as coral to absorb calcium carbonate ions to form shells and skeletons.

About 50% of atmospheric CO2 is absorbed by the planet’s oceans.

Read more about the carbon cycle here .

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The SNP's Carol Monaghan asks the panel if a "tipping point" has been reached, where the oceans are no longer able to "buffer" the impact of C02 being emitted into the atmosphere.

Dr Carol Turley sets out a bleak scenario.

She predicts that the ocean will keep on taking up C02 for "hundreds of years", but that it will eventually reach a point of "equilibrium" where this will no longer happen - assuming C02 continues to be emitted at current rates.

"If we keep on doing what we're doing, by the end of this century, marine ecosystems as we know them will change, and the goods and services we depend on will change too.

"It will affect food security and livelihoods", she says.

The effects would then take "tens of thousands of years" for the ocean to "buffer out" all the C02 currently being emitted - assuming emissions stopped.

"If the two degree limit in the Paris climate agreement is achieved, its possible to avert some of the damage," she says.

Select Committee
Parliament

Image source, HoC

The committee is holding a session on ocean acidification.

The inquiry is looking into the role of CO2 in acidification, regional variations, the impact of ocean acidification and the scope and sufficiency of research in this area.

• Dr Carol Turley, Senior Scientist, Plymouth Marine Laboratory
• Dr Alex Poulton, Principal Researcher in Marine Ecology and Biogeochemistry, National Oceanographic Centre
• Dr Ceri Lewis, Senior Lecturer in Marine Biology, University of Exeter
• Dr Ned Garnett, Associate Director Research, Natural Environment Research Council

Welcome to our coverage of the day in Westminster.

We're starting today with a look at the Science and Technology's investigation into the issue of ocean acidification.

The committee published reports on Marine Science in  2007, external  and  2013, external , noting the importance of combating increasing ocean acidification. 

The five year NERC  UK Ocean Acidification Research Programme, external  ended in 2015. In the same year, "minimising and addressing the impacts of ocean acidification" was identified as one of the targets of UN Sustainable Development Goal 14 – Life Below Water.