9 December 2019. During the COP25 summit in Madrid, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released its latest comprehensive report titled “Ocean deoxygenation: everyone’s problem” that compiles the current evidence for the ongoing, man-made decline in the oceans oxygen levels. The 588 page, 11 chapter wake-up call to these detrimental changes was produced by leading experts in the field. UConn DMS faculty Baumann is one of the co-authors in chapter 6 “Multiple stressors – forces that combine to worsen deoxygenation and its effects”.

From the executive summary:
“The equilibrium state of the ocean-atmosphere system has been perturbed these last few decades with the ocean becoming a source of oxygen for the atmosphere even though its oxygen inventory is only ~0.6% of that of the atmosphere. Different analyses conclude that the global ocean oxygen content has decreased by 1-2% since the middle of the 20th century. Global warming is expected to have contributed to this decrease, directly because the solubility of oxygen in warmer waters decreases, and indirectly through changes in the physical and biogeochemical dynamics.”

Access to the full report:
https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/48892

Chapter 6. Multiple stressors – forces that combine to worsen deoxygenation and its effects (5.86 MB) https://portals.iucn.org/library/sites/library/files/documents/06%20DEOX.pdf

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