Dead zones located in the oceans are growing larger due to the prolonged effects of climate change, according to a new study from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and its Environmental Research Center.

This phenomenon that creates dead zones is called hypoxia and it occurs when a reduced amount of concentrated oxygen creates these zones located in oceans around the world. One of the largest dead zones can be found in the Gulf of Mexico every year as it occurs during spring.

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Dead zones can either be formed naturally or could be formed by chemical runoffs from plants or farms. It affects marine biodiversity since high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus promotes the abnormal growth of algae in the ocean.  Algae consumes the oxygen needed by other marine species.

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) officials said these excess nutrients that run-off from land can stimulate this overgrowth of algae. This decomposition process depletes the oxygen supply that stimulates healthy marine life.

With global warming, oceanic temperature will rise by 3.6 degrees in 94 percent of the world's oceans in the next few decades. This means that warmer waters have a lesser capacity to hold oxygen as opposed to cooler water. This then promotes the occurrence of hypoxia and these dead zones.

Hypoxia has become fairly common as the number of zones has doubled each decade in the last 50 years. According to Keryn Gedan from the University of Maryland, who is also a marine ecologist, these zones have a huge impact on global coastal zones where people live.

This study was published on the journal, Global Change Biology.

TagsGlobal Warming Causes More Oceanic Dead Zones, dead zones, oceanic dead zones, global warming, causes of oceanic dead zones, hypoxia, global warming dead zones oceans world