The oceans have absorbed 50% more heat since 2007 than in 50 years

25 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

During the last 15 years, the heat accumulated in the oceans it has increased by almost 50% compared to the amount accumulated in the last 50 years.

It is the warning of Mercator Ocean Internationala scientific organization that contributed to the latest weather report of the World Meteorological Organization, and which specifically documents the recent and rapid warming of the oceans.

The report finds that about 90% of the energy trapped in the climate system by greenhouse gases goes to the ocean and that ocean heat content, which measures this energy gain, hit a new observed record by 2022, on the verge of an El Niño climate episode that can exacerbate its consequences.

Global mean sea level continued to rise, reaching a new record (since the beginning of satellite records in the early 1990s). The rate of global mean sea level rise has doubled between the period 1993-2002, which increased at a rate of 2.27 millimeters (mm) per year, and the period 2013-2022, which had a rate of 4.62 mm per year.

The upper 2,000 meters of the ocean experienced a sustained increase in temperature in 2022, which is expected to persist for years to come and will lead to irreversible changes over the next hundreds and even thousands of years. The ocean heat content was the highest on record in 2022, exceeding the previous year’s value by 17 +/- 9 ZJ (Zeta Joules).

Verified across multiple data sets, the report found that rates of ocean warming were particularly high over the past twenty years. Ocean warming from 0 to 2,000 meters has been increasing at a rate of 0.7 +/- 0.1 watts per square meter from 1971 to 2022; however, this increased in 2006 to 2022 at the rate of 1.2 +/- 0.2 watts per square meter.

Below 2,000 meters, which is considered the deep ocean, it is estimated to be warming at a rate of 0.0725 +/- 0.1 watts per square meter between 1992 and 2022, globally.

Dr. Karina von Schuckmann, an oceanographer at Mercator Ocean International and author of the report, cautions it’s a statement:

“We found that we found that about 89% of the excess anthropogenic heat accumulated in the Earth system over the past six decades has been absorbed by the ocean. Furthermore, over the past 15 years, the accumulated heat in the ocean has increased by almost 50% compared to the amount accumulated in the last 50 years. This has led to sea level rise, alterations in ocean circulation patterns, meteorological phenomena, as well as numerous negative impacts on marine ecosystems. This has widespread implications for us as humans, as it touches many aspects of our lives from food security to global economies.”