According to the EU’s climate change service Copernicus, the average daily global ocean surface temperature beat a 2016 record this week, reaching 20.96C, which is far above the average for this time of year.
Oceans are vital climate regulators. They absorb heat and produce half of Earth’s oxygen. Its interaction with the atmosphere drives weather patterns and regional climates.
Hotter oceans and heatwaves also disturb marine species like fish and whales. Their search for cooler waters will upset the food chain. Predatory animals like sharks can become aggressive because they get confused in hotter temperatures.
According to Dr. Kathryn Lesneski, who is monitoring a marine heatwave in the Gulf of Mexico for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “Right now there is widespread coral bleaching at shallow reefs in Florida and many corals have already died.”
The impact of climate change on the planet is an issue that has to be tackled as it puts the entire globe at risk.
Scientists worry about the timing of this broken record. According to them, ideally, March should be when the oceans globally are warmest, not August.
Although, natural climate cycles, such as El Niño and La Niña, lead to short-term fluctuations in ocean temperatures, the overall trend of long-term ocean warming is the result of human-induced factors such as burning fossil fuels and pollution.
While air temperatures increase significantly, the oceans take longer to heat up, even though they have absorbed 90% of the Earth’s warming from greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, this is a matter of concern to the world entirely.
