Sea Creatures In The Atlantic Ocean Could Die Due To Ocean Warming

The Atlantic ocean might soon be so impacted by climate change and human-made damages so much that it could dry off of oxygen. The Earth’s second largest ocean has been losing oxygen, which is vital for life in all forms to exist, including sea creatures. A scientist examining the ocean’s health has warned the Atlantic could become breathless due to increased ocean warming.

International teams of researchers gathered to study the ocean warming effects

BBC stated in a report that an international team of researchers from states which margin the ocean would examine, over four years, how climate change and industries like fishing, mining, and gas and oil extraction impact the breadth of water. The team will also search for refuges where animals seem capable to survive.

Researchers from countries including Iceland, Scotland, and South America will take part in the $11 million (€10 million) project. Professor Murray Roberts from the University of Edinburgh School of GeoScience who is conducting the ‘iAtlantic’ program said that the international team plans to examine all organisms in the oceans.

The team will look at 2 ecosystems, which include a coral reef close to the Western Isles chain of islands located on the west coast of Scotland, the North Atlantic area of the Sargasso Sea, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge off Iceland, the regions expanding from Angola to the Congo Lobe, and the Vitória-Trindade Seamount Chain​ off the coast of Brazil.

Atlantic ocean is losing oxygen due to ocean warming, threatening sea creatures

Roberts explained that the Atlantic is slowly losing oxygen, which is vital for wildlife to survive. The ocean, like many other water basins all over the globe, is being deoxygenated, and more than 90 percent of global warming as a result of climate change during the last five decades has occurred in the ocean.

There will be 32 missions taking place, which will gather data all over the region with the help of technology and robot submarines. Researchers taking part in the investigation are experts in fields spanning from machine learning to physics and genomics. They will analyze the data they gather as well as other existing information on the DNA of ocean genus to highlight the regions of the ocean which are most exposed to ecosystem changes resulted from human activity, such as pollution.

The researchers plan to use its examination of the ocean’s health to notify government policies for conservation and address climate change and ocean warming. A report issued by climate scientists last week warned that global warming would annihilate one-sixth of the planet’s sea creatures if measures are not implemented.