One of the last mesocosms (experiment water enclosures) is loaded temporarily onto the quayside at the scientific research settlement of Ny-Ålesund. The nine mesocosms will later be put onto the Esperanza to be taken back to Kiel from Svalbard.
Greenpeace has worked with a team of scientists from the German marine research institute IFM-GEOMAR to investigate ocean acidification, by deploying nine large mesocosms. Ocean acidification is a phenomenon caused by carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions that has just as much potential to damage marine ecosystems as climate change. Absorption of excess CO2 pollution by seawater causes its PH level to drop, making it more difficult for calcifying creatures integral to the marine food web to form shells and skeletons.more difficult for calcifying creatures integral to the marine food web to form shells and skeletons.