High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Ocean deoxygenation is a term that has been suggested to describe the expansion of oxygen minimum zones in the world's oceans as a consequence of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide. Oceanographers and others have discussed what phrase best describes the phenomenon to non-specialists. Among the options considered have been 'ocean suffocation' (which was used in a news report from May 2008), 'ocean oxygen deprivation', 'decline in ocean oxygen', 'marine deoxygenation', 'ocean oxygen depletion' and 'ocean hypoxia'.