Mathematical model of oxygen minimum zones in the vertical distribution of oxygen in the ocean

Processes determining the amount and spatial distribution of dissolved oxygen in the ocean have been a focus of intense research over the last two decades. Anomalies known as Oxygen Minimum Zones (OMZs) have been attracting growing attention, in particular because their growth is believed to be a result of the global environmental change. Comprehensive understanding of factors contributing to and/or controlling the emergence and evolution of OMZs is still lacking though. OMZs are usually thought to result from an interplay between the oxygen transport through the water column from the ocean surface and variable oxygen solubility at different water temperature. In this paper, we suggest a different, novel mechanism of the OMZ formation relating it to the oxygen production in phytoplankton photosynthesis in a stratified ocean. We consider a simple, conceptual model of the coupled phytoplankton-oxygen dynamics and show that the model predictions are in qualitative agreement with some relevant field observations.