Carbon-dioxide emissions are turning the waters of the Arctic Ocean into acid at an unprecedented rate,

Research carried out in the archipelago of Svalbard has shown in many regions around the north pole seawater is likely to reach corrosive levels within 10 years.

About a quarter of the carbon dioxide pumped into the atmosphere by factories, power stations and cars now ends up being absorbed by the oceans. That represents more than six million tonnes of carbon a day.

This carbon dioxide dissolves and is turned into carbonic acid, causing the oceans to become more acidic. "We knew the Arctic would be particularly badly affected when we started our studies but I did not anticipate the extent of the problem," Jean-Pierre Gattuso, a scientist, told The Observer.

Scientists have proposed all sorts of geo-engineering solutions to global warming. They have proposed spraying the upper atmosphere with aerosol particles that would lower the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth, reducing the warming caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide.

However, Gattuso said: "These ideas miss the point. They will still allow carbon dioxide emissions to continue to increase – and thus the oceans to become more and more acidic. There is only one way to stop the devastation the oceans are now facing and that is to limit carbon-dioxide emissions as a matter of urgency."

The oceans' vulnerability to climate change and rising carbon-dioxide levels has also been a key factor in the launching of the EU's Tara Ocean project at Barcelona.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change forecast in 2007 that sea levels would rise by 20cm to 60cm by 2100 thanks to global warming caused by man-made carbon-dioxide emissions. This is now thought to be an underestimate, however. This will cause weather patterns to become unpredictable and the planet to become hotter.