How will accelerated ocean warming affect the planet?
Jessie-May Franken
March 28, 2017
We all know ocean temperatures are increasing as a result of climate change. But what you may not know is that they are warming much faster than expected. The loss of tropical paradises is only one of many consequences.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
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What happens when ocean temperatures rise?
With oceans heating up much quicker than expected, the consequences might affect everything from weather to coral reefs.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/F. Gierth
Atlantis 2.0
As global warming speeds up, so does the rise in sea levels. While 2004 to 2010 saw oceans rise by about 15 millimeters in total, this value doubled for 2010 to 2016. Tropical regions in the western Pacific are especially affected, threatening many of the coastal areas and low-lying islands with submersion by the end of the century.
Image: picture alliance/Photoshot
Breaking the ice
As ocean and atmospheric temperatures increase, glaciers and ice caps shrink in size. In 2016, the global sea ice extent was 4 million square kilometers (1.54 million square miles) below average. Consequently, more meltwater flows into rivers and oceans, which also causes sea levels to rise.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/U.Mauder
Losing Nemo
Some ocean regions have already warmed by more than 3 degrees Celsius, upsetting marine ecosystems. Seventy-two percent of demersal fish species in the northeast Atlantic Ocean have so far been affected, with warming limiting their abundance and spread. Species that live in tropical ocean waters, like the clownfish, are also experiencing habitat-related population decreases.
Image: imago/OceanPhoto
Coral bleaching
Warming and acidifying waters affect Nemo's navigation senses, and also threaten his home - coral reefs, one of the most sensitive marine ecosystems. A water temperature increase of as much as 3 degrees Celsius can cause the death of corals and the marine animal species that live in them. Northern parts of Great Barrier Reef have seen coral mortality rates of 50 percent.
Image: imago/blickwinkel
Stormy weather
With increased ocean heat, extremely strong tropical storms are set to occur much more frequently. One of these massive storms was Hurricane Matthew, which hit Haiti in October 2016. The Haitian government put the official death toll at 546, and the hurricane also caused $15 billion (13.8 billion euros) in economic losses on the island nation and in the US, Cuba and the Bahamas.
Image: Reuters/NASA/Alexander Gerst
Heads or tails
There is a strong correlation between atmospheric wind patterns and ocean temperatures, meaning warming waters may also cause the jet stream to get stronger. This could affect airplane travel due to intensified head- and tailwinds. On the upside, this means that some flights may be much faster. On the downside, other flights may take longer and could experience more turbulence.
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2016 is now officially the warmest year on record, according to a new report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). But it's not just atmospheric temperatures that have gone up - it's also ocean heat.
"Globally averaged sea-surface temperatures were the warmest on record, global sea levels continued to rise and Arctic sea ice extent was well below average for most of the year," Petteri Taalas, head of the WMO, stated in the report published last week.
What is startling is that temperatures have gone up much faster than expected. In the last century, the 15 years with the highest ocean heat anomalies have all been within the last two decades, according to data from the United States' National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).
And this trend shows no signs of slowing down. The WMO report predicts these conditions will continue in 2017.
Warming oceans, rising sea levels
With an increase of 0.76 degrees Celsius (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above the reference period in 2016, oceanic warming surpassed the previous year's record of 0.74 degrees Celsius (1.3 degrees Fahrenheit). Several regions even went beyond the 1 or 2 degree Celsius mark.
But as oceans are warming, water expands - causing sea levels to rise. 2016, an El Nino year, caused a downright growth spurt of 15 millimeters (0.6 inches) for global sea levels. This is fivefold the average annual rise of 3 millimeters, which has generally been the case since the early 1990s.
And why is this a problem? Because many low-lying coastal regions and islands could be dealing with this issue much sooner than they had anticipated.
One of these islands is Kiribati (pictured above). Like many of the island states in the Pacific, it could become uninhabitable in 30 to 60 years due to rising sea levels. Kiribati's submergence would mean exile for its roughly 100,000 inhabitants and a paradise lost for the rest of the world.
