Earth’s oceans take in 90% of the excess heat. There are long-term repercussions to that.
Most people are already aware that 2023 broke records for warmth, with 1.48 C more heat than the pre-industrial average for the years 1850–1900. This exceeded the record set in 2016 by 1.25 C.
A 0.23 C increase in global warming is significant, and climate scientists are still working to determine why it occurred.
Was 2023 merely a minor bump on the global warming trend? Maybe. Researchers are working to identify every possible cause.
However, the ongoing warming of our oceans is undoubtedly one of the factors.
Our oceans were the hottest on record last year. The average global sea surface temperature (SST), or the temperature in the upper meter of water, rose by more than 1 C in comparison to pre-industrial levels for the first time that year.
The temperature 2,000 meters below the surface is known as the ocean heat content, or OHC. In 2023, that too reached a record high. Additionally, OHC is a crucial climate indicator, so this is especially concerning. Over 90% of Earth’s excess heat is stored in our oceans, which make up more than 70% of the planet.
How much heat were absorbed by our oceans in the past year?
Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, a nonprofit independent organization that conducts climate analysis, put it this way: we have added 15 zettajoules of energy to the oceans. That is the same as one billion trillion joules, or 25 times the total energy that humans use.
“It’s a pretty mind–bogglingly big number,” he stated.
And the temperature of the ocean is constantly rising. The oceans will absorb more CO2 the more of it we pump into the atmosphere.
