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World oceans warming up more rapidly, caution US and Chinese scientists

Friday, January 11th 2019 - 12:39 UTC
Full article 9 comments
About 93 per cent of excess heat - trapped around the Earth by greenhouse gases that come from the burning of fossil fuels - accumulates in the world's oceans About 93 per cent of excess heat - trapped around the Earth by greenhouse gases that come from the burning of fossil fuels - accumulates in the world's oceans

The world's oceans are heating up at an accelerating pace as global warming threatens a diverse range of marine life and a major food supply for the planet, researchers said on Thursday. The findings in the US journal Science, led by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, debunk previous reports that suggested a so-called pause in global warming in recent years.

The latest technology shows no such hiatus ever existed, raising new concerns about the pace of climate change and its effect on the planet's main buffer - the oceans.

“Ocean heating is a very important indicator of climate change, and we have robust evidence that it is warming more rapidly than we thought,” said co-author Zeke Hausfather, a graduate student in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

About 93 per cent of excess heat - trapped around the Earth by greenhouse gases that come from the burning of fossil fuels - accumulates in the world's oceans.

The latest report relied on four studies, published between 2014 and 2017, that gave more precise estimates of past trends in ocean heat, allowing scientists to update past research and hone predictions for the future.

A key factor in the more accurate numbers is an ocean monitoring fleet called Argo, which includes nearly 4,000 floating robots that “drift throughout the world's oceans, every few days diving to a depth of 2,000m and measuring the ocean's temperature, pH, salinity and other bits of information as they rise back up,” said the report.

Argo “has provided consistent and widespread data on ocean heat content since the mid-2000s,” it said.

The new analysis shows warming in the oceans is on pace with measurements of rising air temperature.

And if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gases, “models predict that the temperature of the top 2,000m of the world's oceans will rise 0.78 °C by the end of the century,” it said.

The thermal expansion - water swelling as it warms - would raise sea level 30cm, above any sea level rise from melting glaciers and ice sheets.

“While 2018 will be the fourth warmest year on record on the surface, it will most certainly be the warmest year on record in the oceans, as was 2017 and 2016 before that,” Hausfather said.
“The global warming signal is a lot easier to detect if it is changing in the oceans than on the surface.”

 

Top Comments

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  • :o))

    @TV

    REF: “Why is a separate question”:

    The answer lies in the hands of the world renowned scientists, universities & research institutes [divided in their opinions] who - for some unfathomable reason/s - are unable to raise their united voice to convince the governments, UNO, WHO, etc [showing concrete proofs, beyond any doubts or counter-arguments] that the culprit is the human-race and also, what needs to be done to prevent a worldwide environmental catastrophe.

    As The Change is slow, gradual & drastic; the countermeasures may also show their positive effect slowly & gradually - no instant, dramatic memedies.

    Jan 17th, 2019 - 10:49 am +1
  • Chicureo

    I love the typical photo of a polar bear on a tiny chunk of ice...

    GLOBAL WARMING IS THE BIGGEST FRAUD IN HISTORY - Dan Pena
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NjlC02NsIt0

    Jan 11th, 2019 - 01:00 pm 0
  • DemonTree

    Don't link to fake news, Chicureo. If it wasn't for science we'd still be living in the dark ages, and if people start rejecting the very idea of evidence, they will go back to magical thinking and believing in utter nonsense. It's not harmless, and those people vote.


    If you encourage people to reject evidence it doesn't just affect this one issue, it ends up with them believing all kinds of harmful shit. Why do you think the world is so fucked up right now?

    Jan 12th, 2019 - 11:40 am 0
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