Huge leap in ocean temperatures

An extraordinary jump in ocean temperatures in 2023 and 2024 was at the extreme end of expectations from global warming and would have been "practically impossible" without climate change, new research said on Wednesday.

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Brest –

The planet has been steadily warming for decades as emissions rise but the stunning leap in ocean temperatures was so far above the long-term trend that scientists debated if climate forecasts were still accurate.

Warmer seas cause marine heatwaves that influence monsoons, intensify tropical cyclones, and cause coral bleaching and mass extinctions of ocean life.

Between March 2023 and April 2024, global sea surface temperatures were 0.25°C above the previous record – a substantially large margin in climate terms.