The Gulf of St. Lawrence could quickly be unable to help marine life: consider

The Gulf of St. Lawrence has warmed up and lost oxygen faster than almost anywhere else in the ocean's oceans, partly because of climate change, which suggests that he could soon no longer study.

Conducted by the University of Washington and published Monday in Nature Climate Change, this study provides new information on the underlying causes of the disappearance of oxygen in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Mariana Claret, author of the study and associate researcher at the Joint Institute for the Study of the Atmosphere and Oceans of the University of Washington, told CTV News Channel that at least half of the blame could be attributed to climate change.

"It's very worrying," she said. "The current effects are rather mild, but in the near future they can get worse."

According to Mr. Claret, an increase in carbon emissions has caused the low-oxygen Gulf Stream to move northward, weakening the Labrador Current and leading to more Gulf Stream water entering the Gulf of St. Lawrence. .

She added that the case study is "a canary in the coal mine" for researchers because the Gulf of St. Lawrence is very sensitive to climate change and provides clues as to what is predicting the future. other masses of water.

"Our results clearly show that a major change in the Labrador Current at the Centennial level is underway," the study concludes, adding that a similar change in large-scale currents could occur in open oceans.

Warmer water can not dissolve as much oxygen as colder water and force marine animals to breathe faster, forcing them to consume all available oxygen.

The study indicates that conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, home to an incredibly diverse marine ecosystem, are close to the "hypoxic conditions" that occur when marine life can not be sustained.

Claret said the researchers are already finding that Atlantic Wolffish populations are struggling to survive, but added that cod, snow crab and Greenland halibut are likely to suffer in the future.

"We know it's going to be bad for the fishery, but we do not know exactly what the long-term effects will be," Claret said.

This study follows an article published in Science in January, according to which the volume of ocean water in the world completely devoid of oxygen has quadrupled since 1950.

"We need to mitigate these effects locally," Claret told CTV News Channel.