Warming Oceans Have Impact On High Global Temperatures

As the oceans get warmer, climate scientists have observed a huge impact on global temperatures.

According to VOA, in a study published in the journal Earth System Science Data, experts said that oceans are warming faster than previously anticipated, which increases the danger of extreme weather, rising sea levels, and the loss of marine ecosystems.

Furthermore, they stressed that even a small increase in ocean temperature can have a global effect, such as coral bleaching and stronger hurricanes.

"There is also the loss of ice, the disintegration of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets that are contributing to sea level rise earlier than we expected it to," said Michael Mann, professor of environmental science at Pennsylvania State University.

Why ocean heat matter?

Scientists claimed that the so-called greenhouse gases contributed to the warming of the ocean.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said that 90% of the global warming is occurring in the ocean, causing the internal heat of the water to increase.

Scientists said the global average sea surface temperature last June reached unprecedented levels.

The North Atlantic has recorded an average sea surface temperature of 0.91 degrees Celsius above average, the warmest recorded for the time of year, Copernicus reported.

This is around 0.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous June record, which occurred in 2010.

The unusual warmth is most noticeable in the northern Atlantic Ocean, where temperatures are 1.36 degrees Celsius above average for the month.

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has classified it as a Category 4 heatwave, a term that is rarely used to describe "extreme" heat outside the tropics.

"Such anomalous temperatures in this part of the North Atlantic are unheard of," Daniela Schmidt told the BBC, a professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Bristol.

Climate experts also noted that the coasts of South America are expected to be warmer than average, while the Caribbean and Central America regions will experience a warm and dry season.

Large parts of Southeast Asia might experience drier conditions in the upcoming months.

2023 warmest year yet

According to Tim Lenton, professor of climate change at Exeter University, if the seas are warmer than usual, the air temperature will rise as well.

He explained that the majority of the excess heat trapped by the build-up of greenhouse gases has gone into warming the surface of the ocean, and that excess heat is often dispersed downward and into the deeper water, but movements in ocean currents, such as El Niño, can bring it back to the top.

"When that happens, a lot of that heat gets released into the atmosphere," said Prof Lenton, "driving up air temperatures."

Experts predicted that 2023 might be the world's hottest year with the development of El Niño.

This brings concern that it will temporarily drive the world past the critical 1.5C warming threshold.

El Niño is the warming of the ocean's surface in the central and eastern Pacific Oceans. Climate scientists say global warming did not cause this phenomenon but may have aggravated it.

"The temperatures will spike higher every time there is an El Niño," Abraham told VOA. "What we're seeing now is a foretelling of our future unless we reduce our greenhouse emissions."

Environmental scientists pointed out that greenhouse gases must be drastically decreased soon or the environmental implications will worsen.

"We need governments to provide incentives to move the energy and transportation industries away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy," Mann added.