Another Record For Ocean Temperatures In 2023; Heating Tracked Up To 2,000 Meters Below Surface
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New research published Jan. 11 in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences finds that the oceans are hotter than they’ve ever been in modern times. The sea’s heightened temperatures have now smashed previous heat records for at least seven years in a row (or eight years depending on data interpretation), according to data collected by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Similar data was collected by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), reinforcing these findings.
“It’s year after year that we’re setting heat records in the ocean,” study co-author John Abraham, professor of thermal sciences at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, told Mongabay. “The fact that this process is continuing apace every single year is illuminating for us because it drives home how the oceans are connected to global warming, and how we can use the oceans to measure how fast the earth is warming.”
In 2023, the oceans absorbed about 287 zettajoules of heat, which Abraham says is the equivalent of eight Hiroshima atomic bombs detonating every second of every day into the ocean. Last year’s heat was 15 zettajoules greater than what the ocean absorbed in 2022. The researchers detected increased heat in many parts of the ocean — from the surface to a depth of 2,000 meters (6,600 feet) — though Abraham says higher temperatures were most evident in the surface waters, or the top 20 m (66 ft).
During the first half of 2023, temperatures were 0.1° Celsius (0.2° Fahrenheit) above the 2022 temperatures; over the second half of the year, they were 0.3°C (0.5°F) higher than 2022 temperatures, according to the study. “We really blew the record off ocean surface temperatures last year,” Abraham said. “It was just mind-boggling hot.” According to Abraham, the surface temperatures were particularly high in 2023 due to the combined effect of long-term global warming and a strong El Niño climate pattern currently playing out. El Niño is a regularly recurring natural phenomenon that weakens winds along Earth’s equator, leading to a rise in sea temperatures and atmospheric temperatures.
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https://news.mongabay.com/2024/01/ocean-heating-breaks-record-again-with-disastrous-outcomes-for-the-planet/