The world’s oceans continued to see record-breaking temperatures last year. (Represent)
Paris:
The world’s oceans, which have absorbed much of the excess heat caused by humanity’s carbon pollution, continued to see record-breaking temperatures last year, according to research published Wednesday.
Climate change has increased surface temperatures across the planet, leading to atmospheric instability and amplifying extreme weather events such as hurricanes.
The oceans absorb about 90 percent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, shielding the land surface but creating massive, prolonged sea heat waves that already have devastating effects on underwater life.
The study by researchers in China, the US, Italy and New Zealand says 2022 is “the hottest year ever recorded in the world’s oceans”.
According to the authors, the heat content in the oceans has exceeded last year’s levels by about 10 Zetta joules – equivalent to 100 times the worldwide electricity production in 2021.
Co-author Michael Mann, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, said: “The oceans are absorbing most of the heat from human carbon emissions.
“Until we reach net zero emissions, that heating will continue and we will continue to break records for ocean heat content, as we did in the past,” he said. this year”. “Better awareness and understanding of the oceans underpins actions to combat climate change.”
Records from the late 1950s show a steady increase in ocean temperatures with a near-constant increase since about 1985.
‘Nightmare for marine life’
Scientists have warned that escalating temperatures are causing major changes to ocean stability faster than previously thought.
The study, published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Science, is based on observations by 24 scientists at 16 research institutes worldwide.
It also found other signs that ocean health is deteriorating.
Rising water temperatures and ocean salinity – also at all-time highs – contribute directly to the process of “stratification”, in which water separates into layers that no longer mix with each other.
This has broad implications because it affects the exchange of heat, oxygen and carbon between the ocean and the atmosphere, with effects including the loss of oxygen in the ocean.
“Deoxidation itself is a nightmare not only for marine life and ecosystems, but also for humans and our terrestrial ecosystems,” the researchers said.
Updated data released this week shows that average global atmospheric temperatures throughout 2022 make it the fifth-hottest year since records began in the 19th century, according to the report. Europe’s Copernican Climate Change Service.
Countries around the world have faced an unprecedented series of natural disasters caused by climate change.
Many of these effects may be related to rapidly warming oceans and related changes in the hydrological cycle.
“Some places are experiencing more drought, leading to a higher risk of wildfires, and others are experiencing massive flooding due to heavy rainfall,” said co-author Kevin Trenberth, of the US National Center. , often aided by increased evaporation from warm oceans”. for Atmospheric Research and the University of Auckland.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
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