Abstract.

"In the tropical Pacific, weak ventilation and intense microbial respiration at depth give rise to a low dissolved oxygen (O2) environment that is thought to be ventilated primarily by the equatorial current system (ECS). The role of mesoscale eddies and vertical mixing as potential pathways of O2 supply in this region, however, remains poorly known due to sparse observations and coarse model resolution. Using an eddy resolving simulation of ocean circulation and biogeochemistry, we assess the contribution of these processes to the O2 budget balance and find that vertical mixing of O2 [...]".

Source: Wiley Online Library
Authors: Yassir A. Eddebbar et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JC020588

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Abstract.

"Abrupt changes in ocean biogeochemical variables occur as a result of human-induced climate forcing as well as those which are more gradual and occur over longer timescales. These abrupt changes have not yet been identified and quantified to the same extent as the more gradual ones. We review and synthesise abrupt changes in ocean biogeochemistry under human-induced climatic forcing. We specifically address the ocean carbon and oxygen cycles because the related processes of acidification and deoxygenation provide important ecosystem hazards. [...]".

Source: Biogeosciences
Authors: Christoph Heinze et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2023-182

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Abstract.

"Marine Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs) modulate biogeochemical cycles, and directly impact climate dynamics by influencing air-sea fluxes of the potent greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide (Levin, 2018). OMZs are formed in regions of weak oxygen (O2) supply from physical ventilation and high integrated microbial O2 demand fueled by downward organic flux from overlying surface waters. The ocean’s major OMZs are found in the Eastern Tropical South and North Pacific Ocean and the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean (Karstensen et al., 2008; Stramma et al., 2008). [...]".

Source: Frontiers in Marine Science
Authors: Annie Bourbonnais et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2023.1333731

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Abstract.

"The oceans are losing oxygen (O₂), and oxygen minimum zones are expanding due to climate warming (lower O₂ solubility) and eutrophication related to agriculture. This trend is challenging for most marine taxa that are not well adapted to O₂ depletion. For other taxa this trend might be advantageous because they can withstand low O₂ concentrations or thrive under O₂-depleted or even anoxic conditions. Benthic foraminifera are a group of protists that include taxa with adaptations to partly extreme environmental conditions. [...]".

Source: Biogeosciences
Authors: Nicolaas Glock
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3423-2023

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Abstract.

"Oxygen deficient zones (ODZs) account for about 30% of total oceanic fixed nitrogen loss via processes including denitrification, a microbially mediated pathway proceeding stepwise from NO3– to N2. This process may be performed entirely by complete denitrifiers capable of all four enzymatic steps, but many organisms possess only partial denitrification pathways, either producing or consuming key intermediates such as the greenhouse gas N2O. Metagenomics and marker gene surveys have revealed a diversity of denitrification genes within ODZs, but whether these genes co-occur within [...]".

Source: Nature
Authors: Irene H. Zhang et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-023-00284-y

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Abstract.

"The oxygen content of the oceans is susceptible to climate change and has declined in recent decades, with the largest effect in oxygen-deficient zones (ODZs), that is, mid-depth ocean regions with oxygen concentrations <5 μmol kg⁻¹ (ref.). Earth-system-model simulations of climate warming predict that ODZs will expand until at least 2100. The response on timescales of hundreds to thousands of years, however, remains uncertain. Here we investigate changes in the response of ocean oxygenation during the warmer-than-present Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO; 17.0–14.8 million years ago (Ma)). [...]".

Source: Nature
Authors: Anya V. Hess et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06104-6

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Abstract. 

"Members of the bacterial genus Sulfurimonas (phylum Campylobacterota) dominate microbial communities in marine redoxclines and are important for sulfur and nitrogen cycling. Here we used metagenomics and metabolic analyses to characterize a Sulfurimonasfrom the Gakkel Ridge in the Central Arctic Ocean and Southwest Indian Ridge, showing that this species is ubiquitous in non-buoyant hydrothermal plumes at Mid Ocean Ridges across the global ocean. One Sulfurimonas species, USulfurimonas pluma, was found to be globally abundant and active in cold (<0−4 °C), oxygen-saturated and hydrogen-rich hydrothermal plumes. [...]".

Source: Nature
Authors: Massimiliano Molari et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-023-01342-w

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Abstract. 

"Bottom waters of the northeast Pacific continental shelf naturally experience localized hypoxic conditions, with significant influences on food webs and biogeochemical cycling. In August 2021, extreme hypoxia was detected from several measurement platforms along the southern British Columbia continental shelf, with oxygen concentration <60 μmol kg⁻¹, and a difference from the seasonal climatology of more than 2 standard deviations. Early and intense remote upwelling and local density shifts were associated with an anomalously strong spring phytoplankton bloom, which likely stimulated localized respiration of subsurface organic matter. [...]".

Source: Wiley Online Library 
Authors: Ana C. Franco et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2022GL101857

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Abstract. 

"Mesozoic oceanic anoxic events are recognized as widespread deposits of marine organic-rich mudrocks temporally associated with mass extinctions and large igneous province emplacement. The Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event is one example during which expanded ocean anoxia is hypothesized in response to environmental perturbations associated with emplacement of the Karoo–Ferrar igneous province. However, the global extent of total seafloor anoxia and the relative extent of euxinic (anoxic and sulfide-rich) and non-euxinic anoxic conditions during the Toarcian Oceanic Anoxic Event are poorly constrained. [...]".

Source: Nature
Authors: Alexandra Kunert & Brian Kendall
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-36516-x

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Abstract. 

"Sedimentary molybdenum (Mo) and uranium (U) enrichments are widely used to reconstruct changes in bottom water oxygen conditions in aquatic environments. Until now, most studies using Mo and U have focused on restricted suboxic-euxinic basins and continental margin oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), leaving mildly reducing and oxic (but eutrophic) coastal depositional environments vastly understudied. Currently, it is unknown: (1) to what extent Mo and U enrichment factors (Mo- and U-EFs) can accurately reconstruct oxygen conditions in coastal sites experiencing mild deoxygenation, and (2) to what degree secondary [...]". 

Source: Science Direct 
Authors: K. Mareike Paul et al.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2022.121203

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