Scientists Sound Alarm As Ocean Temperatures Hit New Record

Global News Media Info Research

Thilini Bandara

January 30, 2023

The world’s oceans, which have absorbed the majority of the excess heat generated by human-induced carbon pollution, continued to experience record-breaking temperatures over the past year, according to research published on Wednesday.

The accelerating impacts of climate change have led to a steady increase in surface temperatures across the globe, contributing to heightened atmospheric instability. This warming has intensified extreme weather events, including powerful storms and other climate-related disasters.

Oceans play a critical role in regulating the Earth’s climate by absorbing approximately 90 percent of the excess heat resulting from greenhouse gas emissions. While this absorption has helped protect land surfaces from even more severe warming, it has come at a significant cost. The continued heat uptake has led to the formation of extensive and persistent marine heatwaves, which are already causing serious and long-lasting harm to marine ecosystems and underwater life.

The study, conducted by a team of researchers from China, the United States, Italy, and New Zealand, confirmed that 2022 was “the hottest year ever recorded in the world’s oceans.” The findings underscore the accelerating pace of ocean warming and the growing urgency of addressing the root causes of climate change.

The authors reported that ocean heat content in 2022 surpassed the levels recorded in the previous year by approximately 10 zettajoules—an amount equivalent to 100 times the total electricity generated worldwide in 2021. This staggering measure highlights the immense scale at which the oceans are absorbing heat.

“The oceans are absorbing most of the heating from human carbon emissions,” noted co-author Michael Mann, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “Until we reach net zero emissions, that heating will continue, and we’ll continue to break ocean heat content records, as we did this year,” he emphasized. “Better awareness and understanding of the oceans are a basis for the actions to combat climate change.”

Long-term records, which date back to the late 1950s, reveal a persistent and unbroken trend of rising ocean temperatures, with nearly continuous increases observed since approximately 1985. These records provide undeniable evidence of the rapid and sustained heating of the world’s oceans, reinforcing the need for immediate and coordinated global climate action