Oxygen Level On Earth Decreases, Research Confirms; Could This Bring Harm To Humans?

Oxygen is the key to life here on Earth. Without it, as many may have already known, humans and all the living things cannot survive. Now, research shows that there is a decrease in the oxygen levels. Thus, experts investigate if this can cause harm to humans.

Princeton University gathered a team of researchers to investigate the decrease of oxygen level. The experts study the air bubbles inside an ancient ice in Greenland and Antarctica. The team measures the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen in the prehistoric bubbles, in which they got the estimate of the past atmospheric pressure.

The result shows over 800,000 years, the oxygen level has a drop of 0.7, an equivalent of going from to approximately 100 meters above sea level. Experts said it is not that harmful. Upon noticing the drop, experts now investigate if where did the oxygen go.

Daniel Stolper, the lead scientist of the investigation conducted a hypothesis of why did the oxygen level decrease over the past years. First, he said that the global erosion rates have increased due to the growth of glaciers. As the rising of erosion rates may expose more organic carbon and pyrite which consist of the remains of organisms to the atmosphere. As it raises it to remove the oxygen in the atmosphere.

Thus, he added that "alternatively, when the ocean cools, as it has done over the past 15 million years before fossil fuel burning, the solubility of oxygen in the ocean increases." By which, the ocean can stock more oxygen at colder temperatures to give oxygen in the atmosphere. However, Oxygen-dependent microbes in the ocean are more active to consume the oxygen giving less of the element in the atmosphere, according to Live Science.

Through their research, they also discovered that the level of carbon dioxide has been constant, giving us less oxygen as the carbon dioxide increase. Meanwhile, more research has to be done on how the oxygen and carbon dioxide interact with our planet over the long period of time.

For now, researchers shared that the solution for the decrease of oxygen is the "silicate weathering thermostat." In which the concept would be, the increase erosion of volcanic rock when the atmosphere is richer in carbon dioxide, then the broken rocks will be washed in the sea as the carbon dioxide will be trapped inside, as reported by IFL Science.  

This theory has not yet been tested and it is just a potential solution. But, the least people could do is to take care of the earth, for the more people take care of our earth the more the earth gives back to humans. The result of their research is published in Science.