Temperatures are rising both on the ground and at sea, with climate experts sounding the alarm over unprecedented sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic.
with The Child’s returnwarmer than average temperatures are expected to persist and could affect sea ice levels, fisheries and coral.
“We are in uncharted territory and can expect more records to fall as El Niño develops further and these impacts extend into 2024,” World Meteorological Organization climate services director Christopher Hewitt said on Monday . “This is worrying news for the planet.”
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned in late June that half of the world’s oceans could suffer marine heat wave conditions for September Research scientist Dillon Amaya said that in decades of measurement by the organization’s Physical Sciences Laboratory, such widespread high temperatures had never been seen.
Forecasters a @NOAA‘s @NWSCPC announce the arrival of #The kid pic.twitter.com/swA9gHPjbQ
— National Weather Service (@NWS) June 8, 2023
“Normally, we might expect only 10% of the world’s oceans to be ‘warm enough’ to be considered a marine heat wave, so reaching 40% or 50% is remarkable, even with warming at long term,” Amaya said.
Global sea temperatures in May and June were record highs for the time of year. Temperatures were also “much higher than the models predicted,” said Dr. Michael Sparrow, head of the World Meteorological Organization’s global climate research department.
Those high temperatures came, in part, earlier The kid — which is associated with high ocean temperatures — even started, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service pointed out in July report.
With warmer temperatures, Antarctic sea ice “reached its lowest extent in June since satellite observations began, 17 percent below average, breaking the previous June record by a substantial margin”, according to Copernicus. The region is typically considered relatively stable compared to the Arctic, Sparrow said.
High ocean temperatures are also causing coral bleaching, which can leave coral vulnerable to deadly diseases, experts warned. NOAA calls coral bleaching “one of the most visible and damaging marine ecological impacts of persistently rising ocean temperatures.” Coral-based ecosystems act as nurseries for fish.
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Rising ocean temperatures can also affect fisheries. As water temperatures rise, marine life is moving poleward to stay cool, according to NOAA. This may mean that fish are moving out of reach of anglers. The marine fisheries and seafood industries in the US supported about 1.7 million jobs and $253 billion in sales in 2020, according to the agency.
Warmer ocean water can kill fish because it contains less oxygen than colder water. In June, thousands of dead fish washed up along the Texas Gulf Coast due to a “low dissolved oxygen event.”
Marine heat waves can also produce “hotspots” of harmful algae, which produce a toxin, domoic acid, that can build up in shellfish and make it dangerous to eat, according to NOAA.
About 90% of global warming is happening in the ocean, according to NASA. Scientists attribute widespread warming of global ocean waters to human-caused climate change.
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