According to the EU’s Copernicus Earth Observation Programme, the rate of ocean warming has almost doubled since 2005. Over the past twenty years, sea surface warming has increased from a long-term rate of 0.58 to 1.05 watts per square meter.
According to the EU’s Copernicus Earth Observation Programme, the rate of ocean warming has almost doubled since 2005. Over the past twenty years, sea surface warming has increased from a long-term rate of 0.58 to 1.05 watts per square meter.
This is evident from the Copernicus report on the state of the oceans published on Monday. The EU’s Earth Observation Program also reports record water temperatures and marine heat waves reaching into the deep sea.
“The warming of the oceans can be seen as our indicator of global warming,” says oceanographer Karina von Schuckmann. The seas have been ‘constantly’ warming since the 1960s, but the rate of warming has accelerated rapidly since 2005.
Unprecedented loss of sea ice
The Copernicus report also describes an unprecedented loss of sea ice and an increase in heat stored in the ocean. In 2023, more than 20 percent of the world’s ocean surface experienced a severe or extreme heat wave. These heat waves also lasted longer than before. The average maximum duration of marine heat waves has doubled from 20 to 40 days since 2008, the report said.
In the northeastern Barents Sea, the seabed “appears to have entered the state of a permanent marine heat wave,” von Schuckmann said. In August 2022, a record temperature of 29.2 degrees Celsius was measured in the coastal waters of the Balearic Islands: the highest regional surface water temperature in forty years. The same year, a marine heat wave in the Mediterranean Sea penetrated about 1,500 meters below the surface.
Heat waves affect ecosystems
Marine heat waves impact ecosystems and disrupt the delicate balance of nutrients in the ocean. They can also have an impact on fishing, von Schuckmann emphasizes. Warmer water also leads to more intense storms and other extreme weather events.
Oceans are important climate regulators
The world’s oceans, which cover about 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, are an important climate regulator and act as a carbon store by removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.
Source: Krone
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