Scientists have long known that the Earth's oceans are warming along with the climate. This has already created what are known as "dead zones," areas uninhabitable by marine flora and fauna. Dead zones are deficient in one essential ingredient for life: oxygen. And a new study published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles has found that decreasing oxygen loss could become a global concern as soon as 2030.

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"Loss of oxygen in the ocean is one of the serious side effects of a warming atmosphere, and a major threat to marine life," lead author Dr. Matthew Long, a researcher at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) said in a press release. 

Because the ocean absorbs much of its oxygen through the surface, warmer water temperatures can be a big problem; not only does warm water absorb less oxygen, but it keeps it right there at the surface, preventing it from getting to the sea floor where life thrives.

"Many forms of marine life depend on oxygen, they require oxygen to survive," Long said in an interview with The Christian Science Monitor. "As oxygen levels decline, the increasing stresses on ocean systems, as well as implications for our ability to extract the services of these marine resources."

That translates to habitat loss for marine life, mass migrations and even die-offs, Slate's Phil Plait points out on his blog Bad Astronomy. For humans, it has dire implications for the fishing industry and even our own oxygen supply. 

(MORE: Dead Zone in Gulf of Mexico Large Enough to Fit Connecticut, Rhode Island Combined)

"About half the oxygen we breathe comes from ocean phytoplankton," Plait writes. "Messing with their habitat is like setting fire to your own house." 

In the study, scientists used the NCAR-operated Yellowstone supercomputer to model this loss of oxygen in the ocean over time. They compared it to deoxygenation caused naturally and what they found was that climate change will start making a noticeable impact within just 15 years. What's more, it's already apparent in places like the Indian Ocean.

“This latest study adds one more item to the list of insults we are inflicting on the oceans through our continued burning of fossil fuels,” Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University, told the Washington Post. “Ocean life and marine ecosystems must now simultaneously contend with the triple threat of warming waters, increased acidity, and now—we’re learning—lower oxygen levels. Any one of these challenges alone would be daunting.”

The maps in the study offer a starting point for more thorough observations in the ocean using instruments.

In the meantime, Mann says, it's "yet another reason to prioritize the rapid decarbonization of our economy." 

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