Wednesday, December 11, 2019

Ocean Deoxidization Another Effect of Climate Change

Climate change is not only destablising the atmosphere altering global weather patterns, but is also causing the oceans' oxygen levels to decline, threatening all marine life. That is the conclusion of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) comprehensive study of the health of world's oceans. “With this report, the scale of damage climate change is wreaking upon the ocean comes into stark focus. As the warming ocean loses oxygen, the delicate balance of marine life is thrown into disarray,”  IUCN acting director general Dr. Grethel Aguilar told the world press. Five dozen scientists from 17 nations contributed to the report.  Warmer oceans cannot absorb as much oxygen which affects system dynamics. Also, nutrient pollution from human waste disposal causes deoxygenation. Losses of ocean oxygen are estimated by the report at 2% during the period 1960-2010. Loss of oxygen leads to "dead zones" were nothing can live, such as the one that exists in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. In the 1960's there were forty-five such zones, now there are 700.  Watch this video explaining the problem: