A new study has revealed that the world’s ocean temperatures are the highest ever recorded in 2022, breaking the previous record set in 2021.
The findings show the deep damage that human carbon emissions do to the world’s oceans and its far-reaching impact on the wider environment.
Earth’s oceans absorb about 90 percent of the excess heat held by greenhouse gas emissions.
An international team of researchers said they received an additional 10 Zetta joules of heat last year – roughly equivalent to 100 times the total electricity generated internationally in 2021.
Records starting in 1958 show that our oceans are constantly warming, with an accelerating increase in temperatures after 1990.
The researchers explain that rising ocean temperatures support the exchange of energy from the ocean to the atmosphere, increasing the amount of atmospheric moisture and changing rain and temperature patterns globally.
On Tuesday, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) publication said 2022 was the fifth warmest year on record, with annual temperatures 0.3C above the 1991-2020 average, or about 1.2C above pre-industrial levels. revealed. .
“Earth’s energy and water cycles have been profoundly altered by the emission of greenhouse gases from human activities, leading to widespread changes in the Earth’s climate system,” the researchers wrote.
Ocean analysis published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences On Wednesday, it collects observations from 24 scientists from 16 institutes around the world.
“The oceans absorb most of the warming from human carbon emissions,” said study author Professor Michael Mann, of the University of Pennsylvania.
“Until we reach net zero emissions, this warming will continue and we will continue to break ocean heat content records as we did this year.
“Better awareness and understanding of the oceans is the foundation of actions to combat climate change.”
The research team used two datasets, one from China’s Institute for Atmospheric Physics (IAP) and the second from the US National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) – both analyzing ocean heat content (OHC) observations and their effects. late 1950’s.
The data reveal that the temperature in the upper 2,000m (6,560 feet) of the ocean is 10 ZJ.
Four ocean basins have recorded their highest temperatures since the 1950s: the North Pacific, North Atlantic, Mediterranean, and southern oceans.
The researchers also collected data on the ocean salt concentration, which tends to increase as the temperature rises. Extreme heat increases the rate of evaporation, which takes low-salt freshwater from the ocean into the atmosphere, increasing ocean salt levels.
This also affects seawater density and, consequently, the circulation of ocean currents from the tropics to the poles.
Rising ocean temperatures are also increasing atmospheric moisture and changing precipitation and temperature patterns globally, the authors say.
“We want to show people that ocean warming is an important issue in climate change,” said Lijing Cheng, a scientist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in a video explaining the findings.
“And it has serious consequences and impacts on the entire climate system.”