Carbon pollution by humans has the potential to transform the oceans into a global warming “time bomb.” NOAA data collecting suggests that ocean temperatures are likely to be the highest in more than 100,000 years.
Global ocean temperatures rose 0.86°C (1.55°F) above the long-term average in April. The change in ocean heat content (OHC) is strongly related to the Earth’s Energy Imbalance (EEI) as the most meaningful indication of global warming. Oceans absorb 90% of human-generated Green House Gases (GHG), and store approximately 93% of the EEI. Heat change in the ocean system drives and reflects global climate change.
Even the seemingly slight increase of 1.5°F in ocean temperature represents an enormous amount of heat, according to WHOI. The increase is large enough to transform marine biodiversity, change ocean chemistry, raise sea levels, and fuel extreme weather which in turn are altering property values, lives, and careers of people.
Warmer sea surface temperatures change annual weather patterns and expected precipitation, so that Italy gets once-in-a-century flooding, severe drought threatens the agricultural lands of central Florida, and devastating wildfires in Alberta, Canada burn more than 150 times the area than had occurred in the last 5 years.
The effects of heatwaves alone harm marine life, shift seasonal weather systems, and alter essential planet-regulation.” As we heat it up, the ocean becomes a bit like a time bomb.
Reference- Twitter, National Geographic, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, statista, Clean Technica