T011:
Recognizing Ocean Deoxygenation as a Global Change Challenge


Session ID#: 9535

Session Description:
Oxygen content of the ocean is naturally dynamic but is now declining due to forcing from multiple sources, including the consequences of rising CO2 and eutrophication.  This phenomenon, called ocean deoxygenation, is  a major but little recognized manifestation of global change. The tutorial will address what drives oxygen variation and how different sources in the open ocean, coastal waters and watersheds interact to affect marine ecosystems.  Such understanding is essential for development of holistic monitoring, prediction, and management programs. Research on oxygen stress in the ocean has largely followed two separate schools, one that addresses eutrophication-induced hypoxia in coastal ecosystems and another that examines naturally occurring oceanic hypoxic zones.  I will show that as understanding of whole-ocean function and climate change grows it becomes clear that these phenomena are interconnected across many different interfaces (air/sea, coastal/open ocean, seafloor/water) and also that effects in one system or region may influence another. Hypoxia is also closely linked to warming, ocean acidification, overfishing, and other aspects of global change. This talk will highlight the need for integrated deoxygenation observation and research that connects watersheds, coasts and open seas, and that addresses societal as well as scientific issues.
Moderator:  Karen L Casciotti, Stanford University, Earth System Science, Stanford, United States
Primary Presenter:  Lisa A Levin, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
Presenter:  Denise Breitburg, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, MD, United States
Index Terms:

1635 Oceans [GLOBAL CHANGE]
4834 Hypoxic environments [OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL]
6615 Legislation and regulations [PUBLIC ISSUES]
6620 Science policy [PUBLIC ISSUES]
Co-Sponsor(s):
  • B - Biogeochemistry and Nutrients
  • ME - Marine Ecosystems
  • OD - Ocean Observing and Data Management
  • PC - Past, Present and Future Climate