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Title: Planet's Darkening Oceans Pose Threat To Marine Life, Scientists Say
Link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/05/28/1182...
Great swathes of the planet's oceans have become darker in the past two
decades, according to researchers who fear the trend will have a severe
impact on marine life around the world. From a report: Satellite data and
numerical modelling revealed that more than a fifth of the global ocean
darkened between 2003 and 2022, reducing the band of water that life reliant
on sunlight and moonlight can thrive in. The effect is evident across 75m sq
km (30m sq miles) of ocean, equivalent to the land area of Europe, Africa,
China and North America combined, and disturbs the upper layer of water where
90% of marine species live. Dr Thomas Davies, a marine conservationist at the
University of Plymouth, said the findings were a "genuine cause for concern,"
with potentially severe implications for marine ecosystems, global fisheries
and the critical turnover of carbon and nutrients in the oceans. Most marine
life thrives in the photic zones of the world's oceans, the surface layers
that allow sufficient light through for organisms to exploit. While sunlight
can reach a kilometre beneath the waves, in practice there is little below
200 metres.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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