The world’s sea surface temperatures have reached their highest ever since satellite records began, causing marine heat waves around the world. Guardian Citing US government figures.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the average temperature at the sea surface has been 21.1C since the beginning of April – surpassing the previous high of 21C set in 2016.
The report quoted Professor Matthew England, a climate scientist at the University of New South Wales, as saying, “The current trajectory looks like it’s headed off the charts, breaking previous records.”
Adding more, the report says that due to the three-year La Nina conditions in the vast tropical Pacific, temperatures were suppressed and the effect of rising greenhouse gas emissions was reduced.
However, with a possible El Niño pattern in the tropical Pacific later this year, there is an increasing risk of extreme weather conditions increasing and further challenging the global warming record.
Read also: IMD predicts normal monsoon this year; How big is the El Niño risk?
“The recent ‘triple dip’ La Niña ended. This long period of cold weather was driving down global mean surface temperatures despite increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” Dr Mike McFadden, a senior research scientist at NOAA Said.
“Now that it’s over, we’re seeing the climate change signal loud and clear,” he said.
La Niña periods have a cooling effect on global temperatures – characterized by cooling in the central and eastern tropical Pacific and stronger trade winds. Experts say that during this period, ocean temperatures in those regions are warmer than normal and global temperatures rise.
The NOAA data say the second-warmest mean ocean temperatures globally coincided with the El Niño that lasted from 2014 to 2016.
Another study done in 2022 said that the amount of heat being stored in the ocean was accelerating and going deeper. This is typically providing fuel for extreme weather.
England, co-author of that study, said: “What we are seeing now (with record sea surface temperatures) is the emergence of a warming signal that more clearly reveals the footprint of our increasing interference with the climate system.” Is.”
It is not that oceanic heat waves will only cause warming, but it will have devastating effects on marine wildlife and cause coral bleaching on tropical reefs as well.
Experts cite experiments and studies showing that warming oceans could fundamentally change the food web, promoting the growth of algae.
According to current observations, moderate to strong marine heat waves are evident in areas including the southern Indian Ocean, the South Atlantic, off northwest Africa, around New Zealand, northeast of Australia, and west of Central America. Report.
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