World’s Ocean Heat Reached Record-high Level In 2022: Study

News Desk

Islamabad: The year 2022 was the warmest in recorded human history and ocean heat levels have since continued to rise throughout the world, according to a recent study.

The research study was carried out by a group of 24 scientists from 16 institutes, mostly in China, the United States and Italy. It was published in the international journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

The top 2,000 metres of the Earth’s oceans have absorbed more heat compared to 2021, the previous hottest year ever recorded, which is “enough to boil 700 million kettles, each containing 1.5 litres of water,” according to Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Atmospheric Physics Researcher Cheng Lijing.

Since more than 90 per cent of the heat generated on the planet is absorbed by the oceans, ocean warming is a crucial indication for measuring climate change. The scientist considers the rise in ocean heat to be another evidence of global warming.

Since 2017, ocean warming records have been broken almost yearly. The trend of ocean temperatures will continue for decades, according to Cheng, because the ocean’s response to global warming is delayed.

The study evaluated ocean water salinity in addition to temperature and discovered that higher salinity regions had an increase in salinity, whilst lower salinity regions experienced the opposite trend.

It stated that “the salty grows saltier, while the fresh gets fresher” pattern also peaked in 2022.

Sea levels rise as a result of warmer oceans, and hurricanes and other severe storms become more common. Moreover, they lose their ability to effectively absorb carbon, allowing more human-produced carbon dioxide to stay in the atmosphere and accelerating global warming.

Author of the study Cheng Lijing added that better awareness and understanding of the changes in ocean heat and salinity are a basis for the actions to combat climate change.