The OA-ICC facilitates the development of standardized protocols, methods, and tools for ocean acidification research to ensure quality and comparable data. The OA-ICC and partners develops and promotes guidelines for both newcomers and established scientists in the field, ensuring an inclusive research community studying ocean acidification. Products have expanded to address more complex research topics, such as evaluating ocean acidification in the context of multiple stressors.
Research best practices
Through its training courses, the OA-ICC encourages the use of the 2010 Guide to Best Practices in Ocean Acidification Research, which provides comprehensive guidance to scientists starting ocean acidification studies.
The OA-ICC supports the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) project “Changing Ocean Biological Systems” (COBS) to develop new methods for assessing the combined impacts of ocean acidification and other environmental stressors, such as ocean warming and deoxygenation. COBS has produced an online Best Practice Guide for Multiple Drivers Marine Research and associated handbook. The web-based Best Practice Guide consists of a decision support tool for researchers to assist with the design of their experiments; the Multiple Environmental Driver Design Lab for Experiments (MEDDLE) simulation software to test experimental setups; and a library of video tutorials.
Simplified methodologies
As part of an international effort led by The Ocean Foundation, the OA-ICC contributed to the guide on Practical Best Practices for Ocean Acidification Monitoring. This resource guides users on conducting ocean acidification research using the Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network (GOA-ON) in a Box Kit. Also known as the ocean acidification cookbook, the guide is appropriate for those new to ocean acidification research and has modules on lab management, sample collection, and data management.
The OA-ICC is also developing teaching material for the implementation of simplified methodologies for laboratories with limited finances or infrastructure, such as video tutorials on how to measure pHT in biological experiments.
Comparison exercises
The OA-ICC also supports projects to compare performance of different software packages used to calculate oceanic carbonate chemistry and add new features, such as an option to carry out error propagation and to include new oceanographic standards for salinity and temperature. Another activity compared a set of methods used to assess calcification rates in marine organisms, including the use of Calcium-45.