Ocean oxygen loss is an escalating yet poorly understood threat with profound implications for marine ecosystems, biodiversity and the services they provide. Major proportions of the ocean are already oxygen-limited for all those marine species that are not particularly tolerant to low-oxygen conditions. Climate change and coastal eutrophication may further shrink species’ habitats due to the interconnected effects of ocean warming and oxygen loss.
This Scoping Action aims to advance our understanding of the drivers, trends and impacts of oxygen loss, including its effect on marine habitats and biodiversity. It aims to:
enhance biogeochemical and biological ocean measurement practices;
increase data accessibility;
align data collection efforts to address data gaps in low-coverage areas;
enhance observations in high-priority ecosystems vulnerable to oxygen loss.
Furthering our understanding of the drivers of oxygen loss will improve our predictive capacities and it will contribute to supporting ecosystem services provided by life in the ocean.
Ocean oxygen loss has received attention from the scientific community but is still inadequately studied. JPI Oceans is therefore looking into dedicating resources to improve our scientific understanding of ocean oxygen loss and position stakeholders’ initiatives as an integral part of countries’ and the Global Ocean Observing System’s efforts. These efforts will contribute to the goals of the UN Ocean Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.