Earth’s oceans are routinely breaking heat records

https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2019/02/earths-oceans-are-routinely-breaking-heat-records/?fbclid=IwAR0IEZjw4YaTFmhPcCYaw0ilAzqsQQU-EkDFxrVdP7jLjaPlw9ZGzQM2XtY

By Dana Nuccitelli
Monday, February 4, 2019

Two recently published peer-reviewed studies make clear that the planet’s oceans are continuing to set hottest-yet temperature records nearly every year and, secondly, that the rate of ocean warming is in virtual lockstep with what modern climate models have projected.

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One study, led by Cheng and colleagues and published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, concludes that 2018 was the hottest year ever recorded in the oceans. In fact, since the turn of the century, all but three years – 2007, 2010, and 2016 – have set a new ocean heat record.

Those three exceptions shared a key trait: Each was characterized by significant El Niño events, which transfer heat from the ocean to the air. As a result, for heat at Earth’s surface (in the air above both the land and oceans), 2007 was the second-hottest year up to that time, and 2010 and 2016 both subsequently broke the surface temperature record. 2018 was the fourth-hottest on record at the surface as a result of a La Niña event that year that kept more heat in the oceans than was the case in 2015 through 2017.

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One study, led by Cheng and colleagues and published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, concludes that 2018 was the hottest year ever recorded in the oceans. In fact, since the turn of the century, all but three years – 2007, 2010, and 2016 – have set a new ocean heat record.

Those three exceptions shared a key trait: Each was characterized by significant El Niño events, which transfer heat from the ocean to the air. As a result, for heat at Earth’s surface (in the air above both the land and oceans), 2007 was the second-hottest year up to that time, and 2010 and 2016 both subsequently broke the surface temperature record. 2018 was the fourth-hottest on record at the surface as a result of a La Niña event that year that kept more heat in the oceans than was the case in 2015 through 2017.

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the rapid warming of the oceans has many negative consequences. For example, additional warming makes sea level rise faster, intensifies hurricanes, worsens floods, and harms key marine species like coral reefs.

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Because of what’s known as “thermal inertia” – the fact that it takes time for ocean waters to heat up and interact with the rest of the climate system, much as it takes time for a car to stop after the brakes are applied – the oceans and Earth will continue to warm for decades after humans get greenhouse gas emissions under control. It all helps explain the urgency to curb greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible in order to dampen these adverse impacts.