One of the nine mesocosms (experiment water enclosures) being carefully lowered from the deck of the Greenpeace ship MY Esperanza into the fjord waters. Another mesocosm is already floating in the water stabilized by buoys and attached to a small boat, ready for towing to the site. The ship and its crew are working with scientists from the German marine research institute IFM-GEOMAR to investigate ocean acidification, by deploying nine large mesocosms in Kongsfjord, near the Arctic scientific research station of Ny-Ålesund. The mesocosms are being used to investigate future implications of ocean acidification, 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 creatures integral to the food web to form shells and skeletons.