---
title: "Scientists Horrified by Growing “Dead Zone” in Ocean"
description: "There's a growing \"dead zone\" in the Pacific Ocean where oxygen levels have plummeted so low that everything in the area either fled or died."
date: "2021-08-02"
modified: "2021-08-02"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/horrified-dead-zone-ocean"
categories:
  - "Climate Change"
  - "Environment"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "climate change"
  - "dead zone"
  - "environment"
  - "the digest"
---

# Scientists Horrified by Growing “Dead Zone” in Ocean

![There's a growing "dead zone" in the Pacific Ocean where oxygen levels have plummeted so low that everything in the area either fled or died.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/horrified-dead-zone-ocean.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Shutterstock/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Boiling Frogs

A particularly large hypoxic zone in the Pacific Ocean has experts concerned for the future of oceanic ecosystems in the face of climate change.

A hypoxic zone, more evocatively referred to as a "dead zone," is a phenomenon in which the oxygen levels in a patch of water plummet, rendering it uninhabitable. Sea creatures capable of doing so will [attempt to flee](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-mass-extinction-organisms-flee-equator>), but those that fail to do so will die off along with all of the less-mobile marine life. Right now, the hypoxic zone near Oregon is 7,700 square miles, but experts [told *The Washington Post*](<https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/29/oregon-hypoxic-dead-zone/>) that they expect it to grow, as the hypoxic zone season — itself a horrifying new climate trend — gets worse later in the summer.

"It's one of the horsemen of climate change in the sea," Oregon State University researcher Francis Chan told *WaPo*. "And that’s because the water that we get is lower in dissolved oxygen than it used to be."

## 'Tis the Season

In a separate interview with [the *ABC* affiliate channel *KATU*](<https://katu.com/news/local/climate-change-likely-a-factor-in-dead-zone-found-in-pacific-osu-professor-says>) this weekend, Chan explained that he's concerned these underwater horrors are growing increasingly common.

"We were able to see in the middle of a low-oxygen zone, we could see sea stars and sea cucumbers, crabs, that actually suffocated and were just littered on the sea floor," he told *KATU*. "More and more, the evidence really points strongly to climate change as being a factor."

## Graveyard Tour

It's simple chemistry that warmer water can dissolve less oxygen, presenting a dire outlook for the ocean as [temperatures continue to rise](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/ocean-rising-faster-anyone-feared>).

Chan added that experts aren't quite sure what the long-term impacts of the Pacific Ocean's various dead zones will be on its overall ecological health. But given that worsening climate change has caused the world's oceans to [lose a significant chunk](<https://futurism.com/lack-oxygen-creating-ocean-dead-zones>) of their oxygen over recent decades, we can probably expect to see bigger dead zones, and more frequently, as the global environment continues to fall apart.

*Editor's note: An earlier version of this story misstated the size of the dead zone. It has been updated.*

**READ MORE:** [Climate change likely a factor in dead zone found in Pacific, OSU professor says](<https://katu.com/news/local/climate-change-likely-a-factor-in-dead-zone-found-in-pacific-osu-professor-says>) \[*KATU*\]

**More on "dead zones":** *[A Lack of Oxygen Is Creating More Ocean “Dead Zones”](<https://futurism.com/lack-oxygen-creating-ocean-dead-zones>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)