Germany: A study published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences found that the world’s oceans recorded the highest temperature in 2022, demonstrating the inevitable impacts of human-caused emissions on the planet’s climate.
The study found that more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions is absorbed in the oceans. The records, starting in 1958, show an inexorable rise in ocean temperature, with an acceleration in warming after 1990.
Sea surface temperatures can influence the world’s weather on a large scale. Hotter oceans will contribute to supercharging extreme weather, leading to more intense hurricanes and typhoons as well as more moisture in the air, which brings more intense rains and flooding. Warmer water also expands, pushing up sea levels and endangering coastal cities.
The international team of scientists that produced the new ocean heat analysis remarked that “the Earth’s energy and water cycles have been profoundly altered due to the emission of greenhouse gases by human activities, driving pervasive changes in the Earth’s climate system.”
Prof. John Abraham, at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota and part of the study team, commented that “if you want to measure global warming, you want to measure where the warming goes, and over 90 percent goes into the oceans. Measuring the oceans is the most accurate way of determining how out of balance our planet is.”
Prof. Michael Mann, of the University of Pennsylvania and part of the team, remarked that “warmer oceans mean there is more potential for bigger precipitation events, like we have seen this past year in Europe, Australia, and currently on the west coast of the US.”
According to Prof. Mann, the analysis showed an ever-deeper layer of warm water on the ocean surface, which will eventually lead to greater and more rapid intensification of hurricanes since the winds no longer churn up cold sub-surface water that would otherwise dampen intensification.
