Study of sea sponges lead scientists to believe Earth has already passed 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming

[NickB79]

https://abcnews.go.com/US/study-sea-sponges-lead-scientists-earth-passed-15/story?id=106876855

Earth may have already passed 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming and could be soon heading for 2 degrees of warming, researchers have found after studying sea sponges in the Caribbean.

The study of 300 years of ocean temperature records kept preserved within sea sponges in the Caribbean indicate that global mean surface temperatures may have already exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius and that a 2-degree Celsius rise could be possible by the end of the decade, according to a paper published in Nature Climate Change on Monday.

snip

Samples of sclerosponge skeletons found in the eastern Caribbean, where the natural variability of temperatures is less than at other locations, indicate that the pre-industrial period can be defined by stable temperatures from 1700 to 1790 and from 1840 to 1860, with the gap defined by cooling related to volcanic activity, according to the study. The sea sponges revealed that warming related to human activity commenced from the mid-1860s, with clear emergence by the mid-1870s, about 80 years before the period indicated by instrumental sea surface records.

One caveat: they only used sponges from the Caribbean off the coast of Puerto Rico. But, if can be replicated using sponges from other parts of the globe, and I'm sure researchers are already planning to do the studies, it shows we're already at 1.7C, not 1.2C. That's a BFD with regard to climate models and carbon budgets.

[calimary]

1. Scary stuff.

[Think. Again.]

2. Yeah...

...I guess we shouldn't have chosen to not do anything about it when we had the chance.

[2naSalit]

3. I'm convinced that they are correct.

From what I'm seeing in my sensitive environment, I'm pretty sure we've reached at least that.

[mn9driver]

4. The amount of heat stored in the oceans is still not completely understood.

There is growing evidence that they are absorbing a lot more than previously thought. If so, there will be consequences. Large consequences. Fortunately, I’ve only got enough years left to see the curtain just beginning to rise on what is going to be one hell of a shitshow.