Decline in global oceanic oxygen content during the past five decades
Abstract
Ocean models predict a decline in the dissolved oxygen inventory of the global ocean of one to seven per cent by the year 2100, caused by a combination of a warming-induced decline in oxygen solubility and reduced ventilation of the deep ocean. It is thought that such a decline in the oceanic oxygen content could affect ocean nutrient cycles and the marine habitat, with potentially detrimental consequences for fisheries and coastal economies. Regional observational data indicate a continuous decrease in oceanic dissolved oxygen concentrations in most regions of the global ocean, with an increase reported in a few limited areas, varying by study. Prior work attempting to resolve variations in dissolved oxygen concentrations at the global scale reported a global oxygen loss of 550 ± 130 teramoles (10 12 mol) per decade between 100 and 1,000 metres depth based on a comparison of data from the 1970s and 1990s. Here we provide a quantitative assessment of the entire ocean oxygen inventory by analysing dissolved oxygen and supporting data for the complete oceanic water column over the past 50 years. We find that the global oceanic oxygen content of 227.4 ± 1.1 petamoles (10 15 mol) has decreased by more than two per cent (4.8 ± 2.1 petamoles) since 1960, with large variations in oxygen loss in different ocean basins and at different depths. We suggest that changes in the upper water column are mostly due to a warming-induced decrease in solubility and biological consumption. Change…
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Warming oceans contain less O2 and are expected to exhibit increased stratification and reduced ventilation rates, leading to further ocean dissolved oxygen reductions beyond the 2% decline measured over the last half century.
“Warming oceans contain less O 2 and are expected to exhibit increased stratification and reduced ventilation rates, leading to further ocean dissolved oxygen (DO) reductions (Keeling et al., 2010;Shepherd et al., 2017) beyond the 2% decline measured over the last half century (Schmidtko et al., 2017).”
From Warming and hypoxia reduce the performance and survival of northern bay scallops (<i>Argopecten irradians irradians</i>) amid a fishery collapse (2023) · cites this paper as Schmidtko et al., 2017
Ocean warming and the related solubility effect are responsible for about half of the multi-decadal oxygen decline in the upper 1200 m.
“Ocean warming and the related solubility effect are responsible for about half of the multi-decadal oxygen decline in the upper 1200 m (Schmidtko et al., 2017).”
From The tropical atlantic observing system (2019) · cites this paper as Schmidtko et al., 2017
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Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems
Diaz, R. J., & Rosenberg, R. (2008) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1156401 · Cited by 6,626 · see citing works
Ocean Deoxygenation in a Warming World
Keeling, R. F., Körtzinger, A., & Gruber, N. (2010) · Annual Review of Marine Science · doi:10.1146/annurev.marine.010908.163855 · Cited by 1,712 · see citing works
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Declining oxygen in the global ocean and coastal waters
Breitburg, D., Levin, L. A., Oschlies, A., Grégoire, M., Chavez, F. P., Conley, D. J., Garçon, V., Gilbert, D., Gutiérrez, D., Isensee, K., et al. (2018) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aam7240 · Cited by 3,253 · see citing works
“Increased stratification alters the mainly wind-driven circulation in the upper few hundred meters of the ocean and slows the deep overturning circulation (9).”
InfluentialKwiatkowski, L., Torres, O., Bopp, L., Aumont, O., Chamberlain, M., Christian, J. R., Dunne, J. P., Gehlen, M., Ilyina, T., John, J. G., et al. (2020) · Biogeosciences · doi:10.5194/bg-17-3439-2020 · Cited by 897 · see citing works
The tropical atlantic observing system
Foltz, G. R., Brandt, P., Richter, I., Rodríguez-Fonseca, B., Hernandez, F., Dengler, M., Rodrigues, R. R., Schmidt, J. O., Yu, L., Lefevre, N., et al. (2019) · Frontiers in Marine Science · doi:10.3389/fmars.2019.00206 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
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“…oceans contain less O2 and are expected to exhibit increased stratification and reduced ventilation rates, leading to further ocean dissolved oxygen (DO) reductions (Keeling et al., 2010; Shepherd et al., 2017) beyond the 2% decline measured over the last half century (Schmidtko et al., 2017).”
BackgroundEcorestoration for Environmental Sustainability—An Introductory Framework
Banerjee, A., Jhariya, M. K., Bargali, S. S., & Palit, D. (2023) · Ecorestoration for Sustainability · doi:10.1002/9781119879954.ch1 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
The Habitability of Icy Ocean Worlds in the Solar System
Vance, S. D. (2018) · Handbook of Exoplanets · doi:10.1007/978-3-319-55333-7_63 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Schmidtko, S., Stramma, L., & Visbeck, M.
- Affiliations
- GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (DE)
- Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Schmidtko, Sunke
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2017-02
- Volume
- 542
- Issue
- 7641
- Pages
- 335-339
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2588770771
- Cited by
- 1,398
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 135 · 2025: 158 · 2024: 202 · 2023: 201 · 2022: 147 · 2021: 178 · 2020: 123 · 2019: 99 · 2018: 105 · 2017: 46 · 2015: 1 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 67.68
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- www.springer.com/tdm (tdm)
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (GEOMAR) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Oceanographic and Atmospheric Processes
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine Biology and Ecology Research
- Keywords
- ocean deoxygenation, ocean warming, oxygen solubility, deep water ventilation, ocean overturning circulation, biological oxygen consumption, multidecadal variability, ocean basins, fisheries impacts
- MeSH terms
- Fisheries, Oceans and Seas, Oxygen, Seawater, Solubility, Temperature, Time Factors, Ecosystem, History, 20th Century, History, 21st Century, Global Warming, Aquatic Organisms
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