German scientists have discovered that the oxygen levels in the ocean have decreased and it is because of climate change. It has a huge effect on aquatic animals but not only to them.
According to Washington Post, if the decrease of oxygen level in the ocean will continue, it will greatly affect the marine animals. German oceanographers Sunke Schmidtko with his two colleagues from the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research in Kiel, Germany have stated in their paper that there is a two percent decreased in the oxygen content of the ocean. It has particularly happened in the Pacific and the Arctic, which is the most affected part of climate change. The record showed that the event happened between 1960 until 2010.
Science Daily has reported that the study was published in the famous scientific journal named "Nature". In it, it was explained how the German oceanographers measured their study. They have used all historic oxygen data available around the world. They combined it with the current measurements and observations, and then they polished the interpolation measures to correctly rebuild the expansion of the oxygen budget over the past 50 years.
"To quantify trends for the entire ocean, however, was more difficult since oxygen data from remote regions and the deep ocean is sparse," explains Dr. Schmidtko, "we were able to document the oxygen distribution and its changes for the entire ocean for the first time. These numbers are an essential prerequisite for improving forecasts for the ocean of the future."
The scientists explained that they cannot state the cause of these happenings. However, they clearly stated that it will continue in the future if people and the government do not take action and stop global warming. The higher atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are there will be consequently higher global temperatures.
