Study Reveals Ocean Surface Warming Quadrupled in Last 40 Years

Synopsis

A recent study highlights a dramatic increase in ocean warming, which has more than quadrupled in the last four decades. This finding explains the record-high sea temperatures observed in 2023 and early 2024, emphasizing the urgent need for global action to mitigate climate change effects.

Key Takeaways

The rate of ocean warming has increased over four times in 40 years.
Current ocean temperature rise is 0.27 degrees Celsius per decade.
Net zero emissions are vital to slow down warming.
Record ocean temperatures were observed for 450 consecutive days.
Warming oceans could lead to increased disease spread in marine life.

New Delhi, Jan 28 (NationPress) The pace of ocean warming has surged more than fourfold over the last four decades, as highlighted in a recent study published on Tuesday, shedding light on the record-breaking sea temperatures witnessed in 2023 and early 2024.

The research, featured in the journal Environmental Research Letters, indicates that ocean temperatures were rising at approximately 0.06 degrees Celsius per decade during the late 1980s. In contrast, the current rate is about 0.27 degrees Celsius per decade.

“Imagining the oceans as a bathtub, in the 1980s, the hot tap was barely running, warming the water by just a small fraction each decade. Now, the hot tap is flowing much faster, accelerating the warming process,” explained lead author Professor Chris Merchant from the University of Reading, UK.

Merchant emphasized that reducing global carbon emissions and striving for net zero is crucial to mitigate warming. In 2023 and early 2024, ocean temperatures reached unprecedented highs for a continuous span of 450 days.

In addition to El Nino, a natural warming phenomenon in the Pacific, the research team discovered that sea surface warming has escalated more rapidly in the last decade compared to earlier years. The study highlighted that approximately 44 percent of the record warmth is due to the oceans absorbing heat at an increasing rate.

The results indicate that the overall rate of global ocean warming observed in recent decades may not accurately predict future trends: it is likely that the temperature increase seen over the past 40 years could be surpassed in the next 20 years.

As the surface oceans dictate the rate of global warming, this development is significant for the broader climate landscape, the team clarified.

This rapid warming emphasizes the critical need to decrease fossil fuel consumption to avert even steeper temperature rises in the future and to initiate climate stabilization.

Elevated ocean temperatures can heighten the transmission of diseases among marine species, which in turn can impact humans, either through consumption of affected marine species or from infections resulting from exposure to marine environments.