Frontiers in Marine Science (Dec 2021)

A Global Ocean Oxygen Database and Atlas for Assessing and Predicting Deoxygenation and Ocean Health in the Open and Coastal Ocean

  • Marilaure Grégoire,
  • Véronique Garçon,
  • Hernan Garcia,
  • Denise Breitburg,
  • Kirsten Isensee,
  • Andreas Oschlies,
  • Maciej Telszewski,
  • Alexander Barth,
  • Henry C. Bittig,
  • Jacob Carstensen,
  • Thierry Carval,
  • Fei Chai,
  • Francisco Chavez,
  • Daniel Conley,
  • Laurent Coppola,
  • Sean Crowe,
  • Kim Currie,
  • Minhan Dai,
  • Bruno Deflandre,
  • Boris Dewitte,
  • Boris Dewitte,
  • Boris Dewitte,
  • Robert Diaz,
  • Emilio Garcia-Robledo,
  • Denis Gilbert,
  • Alessandra Giorgetti,
  • Ronnie Glud,
  • Dimitri Gutierrez,
  • Shigeki Hosoda,
  • Masao Ishii,
  • Gil Jacinto,
  • Chris Langdon,
  • Siv K. Lauvset,
  • Lisa A. Levin,
  • Karin E. Limburg,
  • Hela Mehrtens,
  • Ivonne Montes,
  • Wajih Naqvi,
  • Aurélien Paulmier,
  • Benjamin Pfeil,
  • Grant Pitcher,
  • Sylvie Pouliquen,
  • Nancy Rabalais,
  • Christophe Rabouille,
  • Virginie Recape,
  • Michaël Roman,
  • Kenneth Rose,
  • Daniel Rudnick,
  • Jodie Rummer,
  • Catherine Schmechtig,
  • Sunke Schmidtko,
  • Brad Seibel,
  • Caroline Slomp,
  • U. Rashid Sumalia,
  • Toste Tanhua,
  • Virginie Thierry,
  • Hiroshi Uchida,
  • Rik Wanninkhof,
  • Moriaki Yasuhara

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.724913
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

Read online

In this paper, we outline the need for a coordinated international effort toward the building of an open-access Global Ocean Oxygen Database and ATlas (GO2DAT) complying with the FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable). GO2DAT will combine data from the coastal and open ocean, as measured by the chemical Winkler titration method or by sensors (e.g., optodes, electrodes) from Eulerian and Lagrangian platforms (e.g., ships, moorings, profiling floats, gliders, ships of opportunities, marine mammals, cabled observatories). GO2DAT will further adopt a community-agreed, fully documented metadata format and a consistent quality control (QC) procedure and quality flagging (QF) system. GO2DAT will serve to support the development of advanced data analysis and biogeochemical models for improving our mapping, understanding and forecasting capabilities for ocean O2 changes and deoxygenation trends. It will offer the opportunity to develop quality-controlled data synthesis products with unprecedented spatial (vertical and horizontal) and temporal (sub-seasonal to multi-decadal) resolution. These products will support model assessment, improvement and evaluation as well as the development of climate and ocean health indicators. They will further support the decision-making processes associated with the emerging blue economy, the conservation of marine resources and their associated ecosystem services and the development of management tools required by a diverse community of users (e.g., environmental agencies, aquaculture, and fishing sectors). A better knowledge base of the spatial and temporal variations of marine O2 will improve our understanding of the ocean O2 budget, and allow better quantification of the Earth’s carbon and heat budgets. With the ever-increasing need to protect and sustainably manage ocean services, GO2DAT will allow scientists to fully harness the increasing volumes of O2 data already delivered by the expanding global ocean observing system and enable smooth incorporation of much higher quantities of data from autonomous platforms in the open ocean and coastal areas into comprehensive data products in the years to come. This paper aims at engaging the community (e.g., scientists, data managers, policy makers, service users) toward the development of GO2DAT within the framework of the UN Global Ocean Oxygen Decade (GOOD) program recently endorsed by IOC-UNESCO. A roadmap toward GO2DAT is proposed highlighting the efforts needed (e.g., in terms of human resources).

Keywords