A new study in the journal Science has found that the Earth’s oceans are warming far faster than experts had previously predicted, leading to a bleak outlook among climate scientists who say the rapid environmental shifts will lead to international disputes, humanitarian crises and deadly freak weather events.
As the greenhouse effect has intensified, according to the new research, the oceans have born the brunt of global warming. Readings suggest that 2018 will be the hottest year on record for the planet’s seas, replacing 2017 and 2016 before it.
As the planet has warmed, the oceans have provided a critical buffer. They have slowed the effects of climate change by absorbing 93 percent of the heat trapped by the greenhouse gases humans pump into the atmosphere.
But the surging water temperatures are already killing off marine ecosystems, raising sea levels and making hurricanes more destructive.
Rising ocean temperatures can bleach corals, like these off of Papua New Guinea
Coral reefs, whose fish populations are sources of food for hundreds of millions of people, will come under increasing stress; a fifth of all corals have already died in the past three years.
“It will spill over far beyond just fish, it will turn into trade wars, into diplomatic disputes which will led to a breakdown in international relations in some cases.”
Reference- The New York Times, Science Journal, Futurism