A map of sea surface temperatures has warmed dramatically in red and orange this summer, showing a global warming trend and raising fears about the rest of the year can bring then the heat remains even stronger. According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, about 40% of the world's oceans are affected by tidal waves, the most since the beginning of the satellite in 1991. By September, that number is expected to rise to 50%, a "tremendous" figure, said Dillon Amaya, a researcher at NOAA's Physical Sciences Laboratory. Heat waves may last until the end of the year. The warming of the oceans - caused in part by global climate change - has sparked alarm among scientists about the dire effects that extreme water temperatures can have on the ocean environment, including fish and animals, and other marine life. The heat could help bring the hottest year on record this year or next and bring more tropical cyclones into the Atlantic than previously expected. In Antarctica, ice cover reached a record high for the start of the southern winter in June, international organizations including NOAA reported. Ice extent on June 27 was nearly 1 million square kilometers below the 1981-2010 average and nearly half a million square kilometers below the previous minimum for the month, which was established in June 2022.
How hot is the ocean?
Sea surface temperatures in many areas outside the Polar Regions are warmer than they have been since March. April and May were the highest on record for those months and the data set dates back to 1850, the UK's Met Office said. Sea temperature - the difference between the actual temperature and the average temperature - reached a record high in May. In the eastern Atlantic, temperatures were about 1.8 degrees warmer than the 1961-1990 average, said Phil Klotzbach, a senior researcher at Colorado State University.
What is a marine heat wave and why are they a concern?
The increase in sea surface temperature in the region is among the 10% warmest for the period in the region relative to the 1991-2020 average. This can last from several days to several months. Normally, only about 10% of the world's oceans will warm enough to meet the criteria for high tides, Amaya said. NOAA and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change say that oceanic heat waves have become more frequent and worse in recent decades. Heat waves can disrupt ecosystems, kill fish and other marine life, and bleach corals. The massive fire that swept along the west coast of the United States - from Alaska to the Mexican coast of Baja California - in 2014-2016, called the "blob", caused: Harmful algal blooms and loss of kelp forests have shut down fisheries, with an estimated economic cost of $185 million. Death of about a million seabirds. A decline of up to 70% of cod in the Gulf of Alaska.
"We know that marine heat waves are getting warmer and warmer as a result of global warming," Amaya said.
