For eight months, a group of researchers sent large underwater robots up to 1,000 meters in depth, now it is safe: in Gulf of Oman re is an oxygen-poor area without any life. The death zone is larger than Scotland and thus exceeds all or known death zones, it is said in study published in journal Geophysical Research Letters. Scientists from British University of East Anglia and Sultan Kabus University in Oman were involved in investigation.
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Death zones: Scientists call areas with such low levels of oxygen that plants and animals cannot survive. They occur naturally in some marine regions at a depth of between 200 and 800 meters. However, y can also be caused by climate change. Because by warming oceans, oxygen content in water decreases. Pollution can also play a role, fertilizer and wastewater also deprive oxygen.
“The sea does not get any more air”, explained studies first author Bastien Queste of British online newspaper The Independent. This is more dangerous than feared: not only do people need vital oceans as a source of food and economic survival. In death zones, greenhouse gases would also be produced, which would be significantly more damaging than CO2.
The fact that death zone existed in Gulf of Oman has been known for some time – but researchers were astonished by ir actual dimensions. So far, piracy and conflicts in region have prevented scientific exploration of marine area, said Quest. In ir study, scientists conclude that in recent climate models oxygen content in sea is too high and loss of nitrogen is likely to be underestimated.
