Are there ocean deserts?

Yes. If you look at a map of annual precipitation, a few of the recognisable land deserts look like they stretch well out to sea. Mainly off the western edge of continents, eg. off Western and Southern Africa (Sahara and Namib deserts). read more

-- Wally Mattson, Eugene, OR So-called "ocean deserts" or "dead zones" are oxygen-starved (or "hypoxic") areas of the ocean. read more

In the Atlantic Ocean, the least productive areas of the subtropical gyre are expanding at an even more rapid rate eastward across the Caribbean toward Africa. The low-productivity zones, likened to deserts, now cover an estimated 51 million square kilometers in the two oceans. read more