Scientists have uncovered a large expanse of "corrosive" water in the Canadian Arctic that is putting the marine food web at risk.

The waters have been so altered by climate change and melting sea ice that plankton, shellfish and fish may have trouble building their protective shells and skeletons, an international team reports Friday in the journal Science.


The oceanographers have documented a "rapid" drop in the levels of carbonate, a compound used to produce shells and bones, in the top 50 metres of the surface waters of the Beaufort Sea and more northerly Canada Basin over the last decade. The levels are now so low the water is at "corrosive" levels and they warn the "Arctic ecosystem may be risk."

"In actual fact, they'll dissolve the shells," says co-author, Fiona McLaughlin, a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

The Arctic marine system has been hit by what McLaughlin describes as a "triple whammy" - acidification of sea water, stunning rates of ice melt, and upwelling from the deep ocean.