So far, 90% of the excess heat created by greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed by the ocean, but this heat absorption capacity is getting lost, which can lead to longer marine heat waves and harm the damage to Oceanic life.
Ocean capacity to absorb heat in its depths seems to be decreasing rapidly, leading to prolonged sea heat, an increase in ocean heating and greater stress in marine ecosystems.
According to this, the loss of this vital cooling mechanism suggests that we may be entering a new phase of climate change.
For the study in Nature Climate Change, Hajoon Songfrom the University of Yonsei, Seoul, South Korea, and their colleagues used satellite data for four decades to accompany the evolution of sea surface temperature over time.
A Team was shocked With the scale of changes and states that there seems to have been a fundamental change in the ocean capacity to mitigate global warming. Until now, 90% of excess heat on the planet, due to greenhouse gas emissions, was absorbed by the oceanBut investigators warn that, as the ocean becomes less effective in temperature regulation, the effects of heating may be accelerated.
“We were surprised not only with this increase in the persistence of OSH, but also with the magnitude and widespread nature of the trend,” says Song. “The fact that this change is occurring globally and in almost all the main ocean basins, highlights a fundamental change in the way the ocean regulates temperature anomalies. ”
Particularly worrying It is the fact that the highest oceanic temperature periods appear to be longer. “We found that SST anomalies are persisting longer than before, Which means that the ocean is retaining heat anomalies for long periods, ”says Song.
“This trend has been coming to increase globally in the last 40 years. In addition, this “memory“Longer of ocean temperatures is associated with the growing duration of maritime heat waves.”
For example, researchers found that in the northern Pacific, the average duration of heat anomalies have been increasing a pace of 2.5 days per decade – A 50% increase in the last 42 years.
According to Song, it seems that the oceans are lose the ability to dispel heat from the surface to the depths of the ocean. “As a result, thermal anomalies persist longer, leading to prolonged sea heat waves,” he says.
“This could result in a more frequent bleaching of coralsin fishing and changes in oceanic circulation. In addition, if it keeps heat for longer periods, it may reduce its ability to absorb excess atmospheric heat, potentially amplifying global warming ”.
“This power is a very important result. If the thermal memory of the ocean is increasing, it means that marine heat waves will become longer, which will have great impacts on biology, ”he says Alex Sen Gupta from the University of New South Wales In Sydney, Australia.
Teresa Oliveira Campos, Zap //
