The impact will be breathtaking Michael Melford/Getty

OUR actions today will change the world’s oceans for thousands of years. That is the conclusion of a study simulating a little-discussed consequence of climate change: it could choke entire ecosystems by cutting oxygen levels in the ocean. In the most extreme scenarios, with the planet warming by almost 10°C, the oceans could be starved of oxygen for 8000 years.

Oxygen-poor waters have always existed in the sea, but in the last 50 years these “oxygen minimum zones” have grown. Climate change is one cause: the sea is warming, and …