About ocean oxygen
Oxygen is fundamental for life in the ocean. Low oxygen environments occur naturally in some habitats, including oxygen minimum zones, deep basins of semi-enclosed seas or coastal lagoons and coastal upwelling regions. They are often associated with highly productive surface waters, where input of nutrients via upwelling, riverine or atmospheric supply fuels the production of organic matter, part of which is subsequently respired and thereby consumes oxygen. The spatial extent and the severity of low oxygen conditions have increased during the past decades, and there are serious concerns that global warming, together with agricultural run-off and human waste and input of anthropogenic aerosols, enhances the deoxygenation of the ocean, which will have extensive impacts on the ocean’s chemistry and ecosystems and eventually also affect human wellbeing.
About this webpage
This webpage is an archive of the former Ocean Oxygen News website (www.ocean-oxygen.org). The intention of the website was to provide information on deoxygenation to scientists, stakeholders and the interested public. The website was an initiative of the former Collaborative Research Centre 754 (SFB 754) and the IOC-UNESCO Global Ocean Oxygen Network (GO2NE).
