General, Research, Technology

Oceans very quickly lose oxygen. How is this dangerous?

The oceans are an extremely important element,supporting life on our planet. And changes in the “aquatic environment” will necessarily come back not only to the inhabitants of the seas and oceans, but also to those who live on land. According to the editors of New Science magazine, citing data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the entire world ocean has lost about 2 percent of oxygen over the past half century. And this causes great concern in the scientific community, because if this trend continues, the consequences will be catastrophic.

Oceans decline in oceans is a real disaster

Why is the oxygen level in the ocean falling?

The International Union for Conservation of Natureincludes 67 scientists from 17 countries. All these experts conducted a large-scale study on the saturation of the ocean with oxygen. They found that from the beginning of 1960 to the end of the year 2019, the level of oxygen in the oceans has decreased and continues to fall. This phenomenon, which they also call “deoxygenation,” is largely explained by climate change, and is associated with the effects of global warming, as well as human activities. We often write about the effects of global warming on our website, so we recommend that you subscribe to stay up to date.

See also: What is the danger of pollution of the Mariana Trench?

If we talk about global climate change, thenhere the influence is pretty obvious. Changing the “temperature curve” also affects the temperature of the water. Large currents change their temperature, which negatively affects plants that produce oxygen in the aquatic environment (primarily algae). Fewer plants - less oxygen. But with human activities, everything is a little more interesting.

To a greater extent to reduce oxygen levelsinfluences ... agriculture. The fact is that the flow of fertilizers and other components that people use to cultivate fields sooner or later falls into groundwater, then into rivers and later into the oceans. There, these substances not only negatively affect the local flora and fauna, but also bind some of the active forms of oxygen, further reducing its concentration in the aquatic environment.

Yes, we found that the oxygen level inThe world's oceans fell an average of 2 percent. This decrease may seem insignificant to you, but even this level of loss will affect the life of all animals and plants. - Dan Laffoli, one of the authors of the report, notes. If you think that 2 percent is a small loss, then try to climb Everest, and along the way such a loss, believe me, will have a very strong impact on you. This is one of the trends that does not reach the public, but strongly affects the environment. And now we can already notice the consequences of these changes. For example, a decrease in oxygen causes a massive extinction of fish on the ocean in several parts of the United States.

But besides the “oceanic effects,” the declinethe concentration of oxygen in the ocean, as scientists note, can significantly affect the cycle of other elements, namely nitrogen and phosphorus, which are "necessary for life on Earth." First of all, this is the basis of many nutrients and structural elements of cells. And this, in turn, will have consequences for all organic life forms, including us and you.