For quite a long time, researchers knew the Arabian Sea was hiding a massive dead zone in the Gulf of Oman, but the political instability of the area made it too dangerous to study. Now, they finally discovered this area is the biggest dead zone in the world and found out they had massively understated it.
What are dead zones?
Dead zones are places in an ocean that contain no oxygen, so they cannot sustain life. Whatever creatures reach these zones by mistake cannot survive for long, so they are forced to migrate to other regions. The first time when researchers spotted such zones in the ocean was back in the 1970s and, by now, their number reached 405.
One of the most interesting dead zones was the one in the Gulf of Oman. It was among the first discovered but remained a mystery for researchers until now. The countries surrounding the Arabian Sea are often ravaged by conflicts, so it has been a bit tough to study the region. Now that things got a little more peaceful, researchers could look at the reputable dead zone.
The Arabian dead zone is more bigger than we thought
They sent some drones to study the depths of the Gulf of Oman, and they measured the oxygen levels in the dead zone. This is how they saw how rapidly they were decreasing, so they realized the situation is a lot worse than they thought at first. The zone occupies a surface bigger than Scotland or Florida, which is about 63,700 square miles. Overall, it mostly has patches with extremely low oxygen, while in other places the oxygen disappeared completely.
This situation can have a huge impact on the environment. If oxygen levels in the ocean get thinner, the survival of many species is in danger. This can cause great disturbances in the balance of the ecosystem, but it can also influence us. We often rely on marine food sources, and the fishing industry can get a huge blow.
Image source: NASA Earth Observatory