Over the past year, the rising ocean surface temperatures in the North Atlantic have reached unprecedented heights every single day. That’s a record-breaking water temperature for 365 days running.
As each day goes by, the situation just becomes worse. It’s worrying the scientists. There are several reasons, almost all of them are caused by humans.
In March 2023, temperatures in the North Atlantic surpassed all previous records by a significant margin. The average temperature difference between 1982 and 2011 and the North Atlantic in August 2023 was around 2.5°F (1.4°C).
Scientists estimate the severe sea conditions of last year to be comparable to the usual if global warming exceeds 5.4°F (3°C) of heat, according to an analysis of climate model forecasts. The current global temperature is around 2.2°F (1.2°C) higher than pre-industrial levels.
Recent study on the reasons of the record-breaking sea temperatures in 2023 has been published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.
The University of Reading’s Dr. Till Kuhlbrodt oversaw the research. The extreme heat in the North Atlantic and the disappearance of sea ice in the Southern Ocean in 2023, he stated, “tell us the oceans are sounding an alarm.” To prepare for increasingly frequent weather disruptions throughout the world, we urgently need to understand why specific regions of the sea are warming quickly. The frequency of these catastrophic weather events depends on the cause of the Atlantic and Southern Oceans’ drift into unknown waters.
Climate’s Impact: Drivers of Earth’s Abnormal Ocean Temperatures
According to the study, Earth’s energy imbalance—which results from the globe receiving more solar energy than it reflects out to space as heat—is probably a major cause of the world’s abnormal sea temperatures. This translates to almost 300 times the yearly worldwide usage of electric energy on Earth during a one-year period.
Another reason could be the high-sulfur emissions from cargo ships that made the sea warmer. Large, puffed clouds of sulfuric acid were created when the sulfur released by ships combined with the water vapor in the atmosphere. Sulfur seeds clouds, and clouds block sunlight from the water, resulting in artificially cooling the sea.
The enormous amount of fossil fuels that people have used over the past several centuries is another reason. Because the earth’s seas are absorbing an increasing amount of heat, there is an acceleration of both global climate change and average temperature rise.
Since human activity produces gases that trap heat, this imbalance has rapidly increased in recent decades. Over 90% of the excess energy that Earth has collected is being directed into the seas, which is driving sea warming.
When it comes to sea basins inside the top 100 meters of water, the Atlantic Sea has warmed more quickly since 2016. The researchers speculate that the record low sea ice levels in the Southern Ocean might be related to this enhanced Atlantic warming.
Sea ice cover around Antarctica has declined sharply in tandem with the fast warming of the Atlantic. Since satellite tracking started in the late 1970s, Antarctic winter sea ice extent has significantly decreased, with the lowest values recorded in 2023.
The scientists stress the need of estimating the extent to which the fast warming of the Atlantic is affecting sea ice cover. Climate models will be able to predict future extremes with accuracy if the oceanic and sea ice extremes are reliably attributed. This will help guide mitigation strategies and resilience building initiatives worldwide.
“There are indications that there may be hidden climate connections between the poles, but we need more data from the Atlantic to conclusively link the warming and disappearing ice trends to a change in the pattern of sea currents,” Dr. Kuhlbrodt continued.
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