The NOAA Ocean Acidification Program (OAP) was established in May 2011, by the Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring (FOARAM) Act. This program aims to coordinate research, monitoring, and other activities to improve our understanding of how (and how fast) the chemistry of the ocean is changing, how variable that change is by region, and what impacts these changes are having on marine life, people, and the local, regional, and national economies.