The Regional Importance of Oxygen Demand and Supply for Historical Ocean Oxygen Trends

Abstract Ocean deoxygenation is an emerging hazard for marine ecosystems and a fingerprint of anthropogenic change. Interior ocean oxygen concentrations respond to changes in ventilation that supply oxygen and the demand of biogeochemical processes that consume oxygen. A better understanding of thei...

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Main Authors: Pearse James Buchanan, Alessandro Tagliabue
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021-10-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094797
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author Pearse James Buchanan
Alessandro Tagliabue
author_facet Pearse James Buchanan
Alessandro Tagliabue
author_sort Pearse James Buchanan
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Ocean deoxygenation is an emerging hazard for marine ecosystems and a fingerprint of anthropogenic change. Interior ocean oxygen concentrations respond to changes in ventilation that supply oxygen and the demand of biogeochemical processes that consume oxygen. A better understanding of their regional importance would improve confidence in Earth System Model projections, which underpin ecosystem risk and vulnerability assessments. Using a hindcast reanalysis simulation, we find that oxygen trends between 1975 and 2014 in low‐oxygen zones along eastern margins are strongly affected by biogeochemical processes that alter oxygen demand, while oxygen‐rich regions of the open ocean are driven by ventilation changes. A similar regional distinction emerges among CMIP6 Earth System Models. Therefore, while biogeochemical functioning is an important source of uncertainty in low‐latitude, low‐oxygen regions, uncertainty in global trends is due to insufficient physical supply changes in Earth System Models, which is confirmed using repeat hydrographic section data in the southern mid‐latitudes.
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spelling doaj-art-140c736a265b4bf0a8fb2278e9286d3f2025-08-20T03:22:14ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072021-10-014820n/an/a10.1029/2021GL094797The Regional Importance of Oxygen Demand and Supply for Historical Ocean Oxygen TrendsPearse James Buchanan0Alessandro Tagliabue1Department of Earth, Ocean, and Ecological Sciences University of Liverpool Liverpool UKDepartment of Earth, Ocean, and Ecological Sciences University of Liverpool Liverpool UKAbstract Ocean deoxygenation is an emerging hazard for marine ecosystems and a fingerprint of anthropogenic change. Interior ocean oxygen concentrations respond to changes in ventilation that supply oxygen and the demand of biogeochemical processes that consume oxygen. A better understanding of their regional importance would improve confidence in Earth System Model projections, which underpin ecosystem risk and vulnerability assessments. Using a hindcast reanalysis simulation, we find that oxygen trends between 1975 and 2014 in low‐oxygen zones along eastern margins are strongly affected by biogeochemical processes that alter oxygen demand, while oxygen‐rich regions of the open ocean are driven by ventilation changes. A similar regional distinction emerges among CMIP6 Earth System Models. Therefore, while biogeochemical functioning is an important source of uncertainty in low‐latitude, low‐oxygen regions, uncertainty in global trends is due to insufficient physical supply changes in Earth System Models, which is confirmed using repeat hydrographic section data in the southern mid‐latitudes.https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094797ocean deoxygenationbiogeochemistryclimate changeglobal warmingmarine ecosystemmodeling
spellingShingle Pearse James Buchanan
Alessandro Tagliabue
The Regional Importance of Oxygen Demand and Supply for Historical Ocean Oxygen Trends
Geophysical Research Letters
ocean deoxygenation
biogeochemistry
climate change
global warming
marine ecosystem
modeling
title The Regional Importance of Oxygen Demand and Supply for Historical Ocean Oxygen Trends
title_full The Regional Importance of Oxygen Demand and Supply for Historical Ocean Oxygen Trends
title_fullStr The Regional Importance of Oxygen Demand and Supply for Historical Ocean Oxygen Trends
title_full_unstemmed The Regional Importance of Oxygen Demand and Supply for Historical Ocean Oxygen Trends
title_short The Regional Importance of Oxygen Demand and Supply for Historical Ocean Oxygen Trends
title_sort regional importance of oxygen demand and supply for historical ocean oxygen trends
topic ocean deoxygenation
biogeochemistry
climate change
global warming
marine ecosystem
modeling
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094797
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