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March 17 Jul 2018 – 12:46 PM
In his Abu Dhabi lab, Zouhair Lachkar works on a colorful computer model of the Gulf of Oman, showing changes in temperature, sea level, and oxygen concentrations.
His models and new research unveiled earlier this year show a disturbing trend. 19659003] Dead zones are areas of the sea where lack of oxygen makes fish survival difficult and that of the Arabian Sea "is the most intense in the world," says Lachkar, a scientist from NYU Abu Dhabi. The capital of the United Arab Emirates
"It starts at about 100 meters and goes down to 1,500 meters, so almost the entire water column is completely depleted of oxygen," he said. AFP
. Phenomena around the world, but this one seems to have proliferated since Lachkar and other researchers worry that global warming is causing the expansion of the area, which raises concerns for them. ecosystems and local industries, including fisheries and tourism.
– "Very scary for the climate" – [19659003] The discovery was made possible by the use of robotic divers, or "marine gliders", deployed in areas inaccessible to researchers – an initiative of the 39, University of East Anglia in collaboration with the Sultan Qaboos University of Oman
. from the 2015 to 2016 study were published in April and showed that the dead zone of the Arabian Sea had worsened in size and extent.
And unlike the 1996 measurements, when the lowest levels were restricted to the heart of the dead zone. between Yemen and India – now the dead zone extends across the sea.
"Now, everywhere, it is the minimum, and it can not go down much lower" , told AFP principal investigator Bastien Queste. , Lachkar explains the Ar The dead zone of the Abian Sea seems to be stuck in a cycle where the warming of the seas reduces the supply of oxygen, which reinforces the warming.
This can, he says, be very scary for the climate.
in Muscat, they look at the sea of Arabia, making it a critical water plan
These coastal centers and the surrounding populations will be affected by further expansion of the dead zone .
The fish, an essential source of sustenance for the region, can find their habitats compressed under water up to the surface, exposing them to over-exploitation and extreme competition.
"When the concentration of oxygen falls below certain levels, the fish can not survive Lachkar
To carry out its data-rich modeling, Lachkar relies on a supercomputer center Sprawling that cost millions of dollars – a testament to local priorities in climate change research
– "Stick to science & # 39; –
T In 2016, the United Arab Emirates renamed its Ministry of the Environment and Water as the Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment, further evidence of the regional desire to to meet this global challenge.
"I think it's an important topic for a variety of reasons." Fishing is a major source of income and is directly influenced by oxygen, he says.
Even the Afterwards, tourism could be affected
The Complementary Center for Sea Level Change in the World, where researchers like Diana Francis are studying the global impact of the problem, can be found at background of its research center.the top of the global agenda in 2015, when the world reached an agreement in Paris to reduce carbon emissions.
But the historic agreement has received a coup l & # 39; Last year, when President Donald Trump announced that he "it's very disappointing, because a big country does not put the effort in the same direction as the others Francis says of the decision
"But our role is to stick to science. ", she says.
"Politics changes over time," says Francis to AFP. "But science does not do it."
AFP
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