The rate of ocean warming has more than quadrupled over the past four decades, a new study has shown.
The rate of ocean warming has more than quadrupled over the past four decades, a new study has shown.
Ocean temperatures were rising at about 0.06 degrees Celsius per decade in the late 1980s, but are now increasing at 0.27 degrees Celsius per decade.
Published today (Tuesday, 28 January 2025) in Environmental Research Letters, the study helps explain why 2023 and early 2024 saw unprecedented ocean temperatures.
Professor Chris Merchant, lead author at the University of Reading and National Centre for Earth Observation, said: “If the oceans were a bathtub of water, then in the 1980s, the hot tap was running slowly, warming up the water by just a fraction of a degree each decade. But now the hot tap is running much faster, and the warming has picked up speed. The way to slow down that warming is to start closing off the hot tap, by cutting global carbon emissions and moving towards net-zero.”
Read more at University of Reading
Photo Credit: manfredrichter via Pixabay
