The ocean is net heterotrophic, i.e., it is a net oxygen consumer.
This is because terrestrial organic matter come down rivers and gets oxidized in the ocean, and this exceeds the amount of organic carbon buried in ocean sediments.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...
The global ocean apparently consumes more organic carbon than it produces. The excess heterotrophy probably occurs in the nearshore zone. This nearshore heterotrophy has significant implications with...
If you're feeling down, just know there are BILLIONS of marine phytoplankton working super hard to produce oxygen so we can all breathe, and we think that's really beautiful 💙🌊
