Depth perception: the need to report ocean biogeochemical rates as functions of temperature, not depth

For over 50 years, ocean scientists have oddly represented ocean oxygen consumption rates as a function of depth but not temperature in most biogeochemical models. This unique tradition or tactic inhibits useful discussion of climate change impacts, where specific and fundamental temperature-dependent terms are required. Tracer-based determinations of oxygen consumption rates in the deep sea are nearly universally reported as a function of depth in spite of their well-known microbial basis. In recent work, we have shown that a carefully determined profile of oxygen consumption rates in the Sargasso Sea can be well represented by a classical Arrhenius function with an activation energy of 86.5kJmol1, leading to a Q10 of 3.63. This indicates that for 2C warming, we will have a 29 increase in ocean oxygen consumption rates, and for 3C warming, a 47 increase, potentially leading to large-scale ocean hypoxia should a sufficient amount of organic matter be available to microbes. Here, we show that the same prin...