Marine low-oxygen environments and warm climates have been associated with a number of major extinction event in Earth’s history. Current numerical model results tend to underestimate observational estimates of a rapid decline in the oceanic oxygen inventory. This talk will address what is known and not known about causes, mechanisms and rates of ocean deoxygenation, discuss uncertainties to be considered in attempts to combine models and data and propose a research agenda that can resolve currently unresolved scientific questions and lead to a better understanding of drivers and consequences of past, present and future ocean deoxygenation.

Ocean deoxygenation in the past, present and future - knowns, unknowns and uncertainties