{"id":166,"date":"2025-05-29T21:41:34","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T21:41:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8881\/2025\/05\/29\/earths-oceans-are-growing-darker-threatening-marine-life-worldwide-study\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T21:41:34","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T21:41:34","slug":"earths-oceans-are-growing-darker-threatening-marine-life-worldwide-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/2025\/05\/29\/earths-oceans-are-growing-darker-threatening-marine-life-worldwide-study\/","title":{"rendered":"
Earth’s oceans are growing darker, threatening marine life worldwide: study<\/div>"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Oceans around the globe<\/a> have become darker over the last two decades, leaving researchers fearful for their marine inhabitants, according to a new study.<\/p>\n

Professor Thomas Davies of the University of Plymouth said in a study published in the Global Change Biology<\/a> journal there is growing concern for the marine ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Satellite data from NASA’s Ocean Color Web<\/a> data portal showed 21% of the planet\u2019s oceans had darkened between 2003 and 2022.<\/p>\n

According to Davies, the majority of marine life lives in the photic zones of the ocean, which is where sufficient light penetrates to stimulate photobiological processes.<\/p>\n

RARE COLOSSAL BABY SEA CREATURE CAUGHT ON CAMERA FOR THE FIRST TIME<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The photic zone, which is 200 meters deep, is where global nutrients and carbon budgets sustain the planetary fish markets.<\/p>\n

This is the area where light reaches marine life<\/a> that lives closer to the surface of the ocean.<\/p>\n

These ocean inhabitants rely on both the moonlight<\/a> and sunlight for hunting, mating, reproduction and other important milestones.<\/p>\n

SPOOKY DEEP-SEA FISH RARELY SEEN BY HUMANS CAUGHT ON CAMERA IN SHALLOW WATER: \u2018NIGHTMARE FUEL\u2019<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The upper level of the ocean is where microscopic organisms and different types of plankton live.<\/p>\n

With the oceans beginning to darken, it will cause creatures that rely on light to begin moving closer to the surface, potentially creating a cramped living space.<\/p>\n

Using satellite data and an algorithm-derived measure of the attenuation of light in seawater, Davis was able to measure how deep each photic zone was around the world.<\/p>\n

Among the darker oceans, 9% of their photic zones were 50 meters more shallow, and 3% of the oceans’ photic zones were 100 meters more shallow.<\/p>\n

The reasoning behind the darkening of oceans far offshore is less clear.<\/p>\n

Global warming<\/a> and changes in ocean currents are thought to be involved in this phenomenon, according to the study.<\/p>\n

Despite an overall darkening, about 10% of oceans, or 37 million square kilometers, have become lighter over the past 20 years, the study found.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

It also found that most coastal areas<\/a> have seen an increase in light. However, the study found that this does not translate into a net reduction in photic zone depth near shorelines.<\/p>\n

Davies predicts\u00a0the implications of ocean darkening could be severe for marine food webs, global fisheries and carbon and nutrient budgets.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oceans around the globe have become darker over the last two decades, leaving researchers fearful for their marine inhabitants, according to a new study. Professor… [more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/flamenet.io\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}