The marine scientist exposing the ocean’s hidden crisis, The Decarbonisation Dialogue episode 28

While melting ice and extreme weather make climate change visible, ocean acidification remains largely out of sight and therefore, Professor Helen Findlay explains ocean acidification in our latest Decarbonisation Dialogue podcast, episode 28.

For Professor Helen Findlay, a leading biological oceanographer at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, the ocean has been a lifelong obsession. 

It began at the age of 11, inspired by long days sailing and by a mother who studied science through the Open University. That early mix of curiosity, sailing and scientific thinking set Helen on a path that has since placed her at the forefront of one of the least understood - and least visible - climate emergencies of our time: ocean acidification.

Helen joined Plymouth Marine Laboratory in 2006 to pursue a PhD on how climate change and acidifying seas affect marine life. Today, she is a world-recognised expert, serving on the Executive Council of the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) and coordinating the North Easts Atlantic regional hub, helping establish global monitoring and scientific capacity. Her work spans experimental research, Arctic field expeditions, long-term ocean observations, and global policy engagement, including contributions to UNFCCC and the Arctic Council.

While melting ice and extreme weather make climate change visible, ocean acidification remains largely out of sight and therefore, Helen argues, out of mind.

In our latest podcast she explains ocean acidification clearly.

She tells us: “Most people are familiar with climate change as we're adding greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and that's causing warming in the atmosphere. It's also causing huge amounts of warming in the ocean. 

“The oceans do as a huge amount of favours. They take up 90% of the heat from the atmosphere, so they are warming incredibly rapidly, but because they're so large they can do that. 

“But they also take up carbon dioxide for us. So, they're taking up about 25% a quarter of all the carbon dioxide emissions that we're adding to the atmosphere every year. And that's going into the oceans. 

“That's actually a really good thing because without the oceans taking up that carbon dioxide, that would be staying in the atmosphere, and the atmosphere would be getting even warmer.

“But actually, as a cost to that, we have this problem of ocean acidification. So, what's happening is that when carbon dioxide goes into the water, it dissolves, and it reacts with water to form a weak acid called carbonic acid.

“What we're doing is adding so much carbon dioxide so quickly, and it's so it's the speed that we're adding that carbon dioxide, the long-term geological weathering processes aren't able to keep pace. 

“That acid is actually just staying as acid the oceans and that's what's making the oceans become more acidic through time. That is very clear. 

And it’s hard to communicate.

Helen adds: “People are scared off by the chemistry.

“With plastics you can show a picture of a turtle tangled in a bag. With acidification, journalists ask me for a dissolving seashell they can show - but it just doesn’t look like that.”

Yet the consequences are real. From US West Coast oyster farms losing whole generations of larvae to coral reefs struggling to build skeletons, acidification is already reshaping marine ecosystems. The problem is silent, colourless, and impossible to photograph - but it is happening now.

At the Western Channel Observatory just seven kilometres off Plymouth - one of the world’s longest-running ocean monitoring stations - Helen and colleagues have tracked over a century of temperature and salinity data. Since the early 2000s they have added detailed carbonate chemistry measurements, allowing them to observe acidification directly.

“We see a clear trend of increasing acidity here,” Helen says. “And these patterns are repeated at long-term monitoring sites across the world.”

Her research blends these observations with laboratory experiments and Arctic fieldwork, where she has spent months camping on sea ice in extreme conditions.

“You fall in love with the Arctic,” she says. “It’s remote, fragile and changing so fast. You see the consequences of climate change unfolding right in front of you.”

Despite decades of warnings, she believes governments are still moving far too slowly. She says: “We know we can make rapid change when we need to - look at Covid. But climate action is still too tied to political cycles.”

She argues that commitments like the UK’s legally enshrined emissions targets are essential, because they lock progress above short-term politics.

Helen is now equally focused on communication, working with educators, policymakers and international networks to make the hidden crisis of ocean acidification more tangible.

Some scientists have even begun exploring how acidification affects the taste of shellfish - a surprising but effective way of giving people something they can directly experience.

“It’s an unseen problem,” Helen says. “Most people live on land. The ocean feels distant. We need better ways of connecting people to what’s happening beneath the surface.”

Helen hopes her future will involve more time in the Arctic, especially with preparations underway for the next International Polar Year in 2032. Her team is also expanding work into marine carbon dioxide removal - carefully assessing which potential solutions are safe and scientifically sound.

At home in the Devon countryside, she balances research with raising two children who are quickly developing their own fascination with the ocean. “My eldest now wants to learn to scuba dive,” she laughs. “Maybe we’ll be back underwater again soon.”

For Helen, the mission is clear: make the invisible visible - and make people pay attention before the ocean’s silent crisis becomes impossible to ignore.

Emily has also been working closely with the University of Cambridge Primary School to rethink how education prepares young people for the century ahead. She and former headteacher James Biddulph have also co-authored Education Visions.

“Children starting school today will live into the next century,” she said. “We have a duty to equip them not just with knowledge, but with the skills and confidence to be active global citizens in a changing world.”

Despite the scale of the climate challenge, Emily remains both realistic and hopeful.

“We can’t ignore the perilous state of the planet - but nor should we be paralysed by it. The key is to turn awareness into action,” she said.

Her optimism lies in innovation, collaboration, and the growing will to act.

“The solutions are out there. It’s about accelerating them, and coming together, globally, to shape a better, fairer future.”

Emily sense of personal responsibility is strong. She sees it as her duty to talk about the state of the planet – but to help shape the solutions for the future.

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