Evaluating the consequences of oceanic warming in the Gulf of Mexico over the past 50 years

The Gulf of Mexico (GoM) is one of the most ecologically and economically important marginal seas in the World Ocean. Accelerated warming with a rate of 0.38±0.13 ZJ/decade has been measured in the upper 2000m of GoM between 1970 and 2020 based on 192,000+ temperature profiles from the World Ocean Database (WOD). The surface water warms at a rate of 0.19±0.05 ℃/decade, a rate approximately twice that for the global ocean. Warming can cause a series of changes in water properties and further exacerbate the environmental issues in the GoM. However, it is not yet clear what these direct consequences may be. For example, how do mixed layer depth and water density change in a warming GOM? How much does steric (both thermosteric and halosteric) sea level rise contribute to the total sea level rise that has been observed in recent years in the Gulf of Mexico. Does deoxygenation occur in the GoM? To what extent is the deoxygenation driven by thermally-induced solubility changes? Using temperature, salinity and dissolved oxygen profiles in the WOD, we investigate the direct consequences of oceanic warming to mixed layer depth, sea level rise and deoxygenation in the GoM.