Largest dead zones in the world

The Baltic Sea has previously been identified as home to the world's largest anthropogenic "dead zone" (low oxygen zone), leading to death of organisms that live on the bottom.

BNI researchers Jacob Carstensen and Bo Gustafsson, together with Danish and Swedish colleagues, now show that the dead zones have increased 10-fold over the last 115 years. They have grown from approximately 5 000 km² in 1900 to more than 60 000 km² in recent years.

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The researchers have developed a new method to analyse how and why dead zones develop. Read more about the study and the implications of the increase in dead zones for the Baltic Sea ecosystem:

• Baltic Nest Institute: Dead zones have increased by more than 10-fold in the last century