At the beginning of August the EU climate change service Copernicus set a new record for the average daily global sea surface temperature (20.96°C).
Oceans absorb heat from climate change, which has catastrophic consequences for the health of the planet, reports BBC.
It is noted that this temperature is much higher than the average for this time of year. Warmer waters absorb less carbon, meaning more greenhouse gases will remain in the atmosphere. In addition, it can accelerate the melting of glaciers, thus raising the sea level.
Scientists say that oceanic heat will have a negative effect on living things. Fish and whales will have to seek cooler waters, sharks and other predators will become more aggressive, and many corals near Florida have already died.
According to them climate change makes the seas warmer because they absorb most of the heat from greenhouse gas emissions.
"The more we burn fossil fuels, the more excess heat will be removed by the oceans, which means the longer it will take to stabilize them," explained Dr Samantha Burgess of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
It is noted that the new average temperature record exceeded one set in 2016, when the El Niño climate phenomenon was at its strongest. In 2023, the phenomenon began again, but it has not yet gained "full force".
Temperatures are expected to increase over the coming months. The temperature record was broken after a series of marine heat waves this year, particularly in the UK, the North Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Mexico.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the frequency of marine heat waves has doubled between 1982 and 2016, and has become more intense and longer since the 1980s.
Earlier, Ecopolitic wrote, that the study by scientists from Copenhagen showed that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), that is, the system of ocean currents that includes the Gulf Stream, will stop between 2025 and 2095, with a higher probability in the 2050s .
As EcoPolitic previously reported, the NASA Landsat earth observer recorded that from mid-June to the end of July, the snow cover of Greenland decreased by 50%.
