Ocean Acidification
Ocean acidification (OA), caused by our legacy- and ongoing-CO2 emissions is a present global threat that is increasing in pace and severity. Changes in acidity of the oceans directly threaten food supplies, economies and the security of those living in and around the oceans. The acidification of the oceans also removes the brake on global warming. We are in global crisis.
Ocean acidification is happening faster than predicted and the pace is picking up. Significant adverse changes predicted to occur in 50 years have happened in 5 years. If ocean acidification is left unchecked, people and communities of the world (including the US) will suffer substantial reductions in their food from the sea, adverse economic impacts on their ocean-based industries, and reduction in their personal security and welfare. Reductions in security will derive from dislocations of people when ocean food supplies shift and the sea rises from climatic temperature change taking land. Sea-rise from climate change (temperature increases) will happen because the oceans, being more acidic, can no longer absorb as much CO2 – the oceans lose their ability to moderate global warming as they once did.
In spite of these troubling facts, global government and academic efforts to collect and analyze big data to understand ocean acidification are grossly underfunded and not well-coordinated. Moreover, the complex challenge of ocean acidification requires big data and knowledge creation tools with capabilities that are not found in the current cutting edge tools available. The problem requires a “next generation tool” to derive knowledge from huge heterogeneous data sets that currently exist. We also must improve the 3-dimensional spatial resolution of global data from our oceans to understand and address ocean acidification. We are challenged to analyze the complex interactions hidden in these data to understand and act upon ocean acidification. It necessitates seamless data sharing across national borders and across university repositories quickly and effectively. Further, it requires applying and creating cutting edge social media, gaming, and visualization tools to educate and to motivate action worldwide.
Existing techniques to study OA rely on information management and knowledge-creation tools that fall short of meeting the need to effectively study and generate a robust understanding of OA and measures to mitigate and prevent it. Current tools cannot handle effectively the crush of information from diverse data sources, collected in diverse ways (machine or by humans), using different metrics, and over different time frames. They cannot effectively handle new data sets, new data inputs from new devices collecting data remotely and new ways of framing problems, without spending millions of dollars on specific re-programming. Thus, existing data management, fusion, analysis and knowledge creation tools cannot accommodate what is an ever increasing crush of information and handle the web of interactions (many to many relationships) to generate knowledge. This substantially limits our ability to synthesize and analyze heterogeneous data sets for scientists to understand OA. It also limits the understanding of the public and policy makers, that understanding is the engine for positive change through governments, private enterprise, and the publics-at-large across the globe.
Green Strategies' ability to make a difference to the future of the world will be premised on innovative programming, massive data fusion and knowledge creation with a framework that can run on many regular computers to create knowledge, games to excite and motivate people around the world, 3-D caves, and reality movies in the face of global change to educate people about the future to motivate a political base of change. It also will be premised on the positive actions of scientists and the peoples of the world that we cannot imagine yet.