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Ocean acidification threatens UK cold-water coral reefs by changing seawater chemistry in ways that can make it harder for reef-building corals to build and maintain their calcium-carbonate skeletons. A 2025 UK evidence update projects that around 85% of known UK deep-sea cold-water coral reefs could be exposed to corrosive waters by 2060. That is a projection of chemical exposure—not a forecast that 85% of the reefs will die or collapse.
Which UK coral reefs are at risk?
The concern is about deep-sea, cold-water coral habitats, not the tropical reefs found in shallow, warm seas. The UK Government’s 2017 review identifies the framework-building coral Lophelia pertusa—also known in recent taxonomy as Desmophyllum pertusum—in Scottish waters and the Celtic Sea. Reefs and reef-topped mounds occur around Mingulay in western Scotland and offshore on Rockall and Hatton Bank, according to Lophelia.org’s UK habitat overview.
These reefs are structures built by corals, and they support diverse communities of animals living on or near the seabed. Damage to the framework can therefore affect more than the individual coral. The Government Office for Science’s 2017 review provides UK context; its account of seven marine protected areas designated for cold-water coral protection is a historical figure, not a current count.
How does ocean acidification affect cold-water corals?
As the ocean absorbs additional carbon dioxide, seawater carbonate chemistry changes. In particular, carbonate-ion availability falls and the aragonite saturation state changes. Corals use calcium carbonate to build their skeletons; altered chemistry can make skeleton formation and maintenance more difficult. Where conditions are corrosive to the mineral, exposed skeleton may dissolve, potentially weakening the structure that forms the reef.
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The aragonite saturation horizon (ASH) is the depth below which seawater is undersaturated with respect to aragonite. If that horizon moves upward, corrosive conditions can reach depths where deep-water coral framework occurs. The risk is not limited to whether a coral can grow: the strength and stability of existing skeletal material also matter. A British Oceanographic Data Centre catalogue record describes physical and visual analyses of L. pertusa skeleton samples, including samples from the Mingulay Reef Complex exposed to long-term experimental conditions projected for the future, with skeletal dissolution and structural stability among the concerns: BODC data record.
What does the 85% projection mean?
The Marine Climate Change Impacts Partnership (MCCIP) reported in its February 2025 update that around 85% of known UK deep-sea cold-water coral reefs could be exposed to corrosive waters by 2060. MCCIP attributes the projection to Jackson et al. (2014). OSPAR’s 2023 regional assessment also reports the UK projection.
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The percentage describes projected exposure to a chemical condition. It is not a measured rate of reef loss, nor a prediction that 85% of reefs will die, stop functioning or collapse by 2060. MCCIP cautions that projected expansion of undersaturated waters “does not imply the collapse of all calcifying species”: a chemical threshold is not necessarily a biological threshold. Exposure signals risk, but does not establish the timing or extent of damage at each reef.
Sources: MCCIP, Ocean Acidification, February 2025; OSPAR, Ocean Acidification, Quality Status Report 2023.
Will ocean acidification destroy Scottish cold-water coral reefs?
The available projection establishes a substantial potential exposure, not inevitable destruction. A reef’s biological response depends on how organisms and reef structures respond to changing conditions; the 85% figure alone cannot say which reefs will be damaged, how quickly effects will develop, or whether a particular reef will collapse. It is therefore accurate to say that acidification is a growing threat to UK cold-water coral reefs, but not that the projection proves their destruction.
Acidification is also one pressure among several. Bottom fishing is identified as a major damaging pressure in the specialist UK habitat overview. That pressure should be distinguished from acidification rather than attributed to changing carbonate chemistry.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the distinction matters
There are several steps between a change in seawater chemistry and ecosystem-wide consequences: exposure to corrosive water, effects on coral skeletons, changes to reef framework, and potential impacts on the communities the framework supports. The evidence makes the chemical exposure risk clear, while the projection does not quantify the biological outcome for every reef. Professor Helen Findlay of Plymouth Marine Laboratory described the wider concern in the organization’s February 2025 account: “The accelerating rates of acidification in UK waters demand urgent attention and action as they pose a growing threat to many of the marine species and ecosystems we depend on.” Plymouth Marine Laboratory, 28 February 2025.
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