Sea surface temperature: The world's oceans have reached the highest ever sea surface temperature due to climate change. Emissions released due to the burning of fossil fuels have contributed to the heating of oceans. This week, the global average daily sea surface temperature reached 20.96 degrees Celsius, the highest ever, media reports said, citing the Copernicus climate modelling service. Before this, the highest global average daily sea surface temperature was 20.95 degrees Celsius, and was achieved in 2016.
Since oceans are usually at their hottest globally in March, and not in August, it is likely that the record will continue to be broken, scientists believe.
Quoting Dr Samantha Burgess from Copernicus, a BBC report said the more people burn fossil fuels, the more excess heat will be taken out by the oceans, and the longer it will take to stabilise them and get them back to where they were. She also said that the fact the record has been made in August makes her nervous how much warmer the ocean may get between now and next March.
The El Niño weather phenomenon is believed to be one of the factors contributing to the temperature rise. Climate breakdown and the heating atmosphere are exacerbating these weather patterns.
Against the advice of climate experts, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced more than 100 new oil and gas licences in the North Sea this week, a report by The Guardian said.
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Oceans play a major role in regulating the climate because they soak up heat, act as a carbon sink, drive weather patterns, and release cool air which brings relief amidst hot land temperatures. Warming of oceans offsets these benefits because warm waters have a reduced ability to absorb carbon dioxide, implying that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases. When oceans become warm, they speed-up ice melting, causing sea levels to rise.
Ships more than 150 years old measure sea surface temperatures. Satellites and buoys, which have been used for the past 40 years, also make measurements.
With the help of this data, which spans several decades, global mean sea surface temperature has increased by about 0.9 degree Celsius, and over the past four decades, the value has increased by about 0.6 degree Celsius.
The most recent five-year average is about 0.2 degree Celsius above the average sea surface temperature between 1991 and 2020.
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Parts of the Arctic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, and some parts of the extra-tropical Pacific are some of the fastest warming water bodies.
Earlier this summer, marine heatwaves occurred in the UK and Ireland. The temperature of waters off Florida reached 38 degrees Celsius last week.
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According to a 2019 study, marine heatwaves are increasing in number. Compared to 1925 to 1954, the number of heatwave days increased by more than 50 per cent in the 30 years to 2016.
Oceans are biodiversity hotspots, and damage caused to them by heat will affect humans, because oceans are a source of oxygen, food, and storm protection, and allow the removal of Earth-warming carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.