It’s like dropping 3.5 nuclear bombs into the oceans every second

The amount of heat that accumulates in the ocean is constantly accelerating and penetrating deeper and deeper, and this has a great impact not only on the living world, but also on the development of increasingly extreme weather conditions, writes the Guardian according to research just published. One of the co-authors of the paper published in the journal Nature Reviews pointed out that the devastating floods in eastern Australia were also heavily affected by this phenomenon and the risk of similar events could increase in the future.

According to the study, more than 90 percent of the heat produced by greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere due to the use of fossil fuels is absorbed by the oceans. As a result, the warming rate in the upper 2 kilometers has doubled from the 1960s level. According to the researchers, this accelerates sea level rise, increases the number of extreme rainfall, melting ice, and also affects the place where cyclones form. Furthermore, marine habitats, including coral reefs, are also at risk, as the oceans become less able to sequester carbon in the atmosphere due to warming.

The research points out that even with the most ambitious efforts to protect the climate, ocean warming will at least double by the end of the century.

Matt England, an oceanographer from the University of New South Wales and co-author of the research, says warming oceans are already causing severe ice melt and flooding, and without emissions reductions the situation could be much worse in a few years’ time. Among the results, it was highlighted that, although all oceans are warming, its extent is the most severe in the southern areas and in the case of the Atlantic Ocean.

Dr. Kevin TrenberthAccording to a researcher at the American National Atmospheric Research Center, the amount of energy added to the oceans in the form of heat is eighty times the world’s electricity production. According to the expert, it is no longer possible to stop the warming of the oceans, it is only possible to slow down the pace.

Even if we reach zero emissions by 2050, the heat content of the oceans will continue to increase for several centuries.

Co-author of the oceans chapter of the latest United Nations report on climate change, David Schoeman said the research was consistent with the results they noticed. He pointed out: according to the data of the present study, in the period between 1971 and 2018, we released an average of 3.5 nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima per second into the oceans. And that will also impact our daily life, she noted.