The average daily surface temperature of the world's oceans has hit record high this week and is set to rise even further due to climate change caused by burning fossil fuels, The Guardian reported on Friday, citing the European Union's climate change service Copernicus
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th August, 2023) The average daily surface temperature of the world's oceans has hit record high this week and is set to rise even further due to climate change caused by burning fossil fuels, The Guardian reported on Friday, citing the European Union's climate change service Copernicus.
Global average daily sea surface temperatures reached 20.96 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) this week, breaking the record of 20.95 degrees in 2016, The Guardian reported, adding that the temperatures are likely to continue rising as oceans are usually at their hottest in March.
"The fact that we've seen the record now makes me nervous about how much warmer the ocean may get between now and next March," Dr. Samantha Burgess from Copernicus was quoted as saying.
The high surface temperatures may be partly caused by the ongoing El Nino weather phenomenon, which was also present in summer 2016, but the climate change caused by high CO2 emissions resulting from burning fossil fuels also play a role in it, the report said.
"The more we burn fossil fuels, the more excess heat will be taken out by the oceans, which means the longer it will take to stabilize them and get them back to where they were," Burgess said.
Warming oceans are worse at regulating the climate and have less ability to absorb carbon dioxide, which exacerbates the greenhouse effect as there is more of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as a result, the Guardian reported, adding that over the past forty years, the average surface sea temperature has risen by 0.6 degrees Celsius.
In July, the World Meteorological Organization warned that conditions for the El Nino weather phenomenon had developed in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years, which may lead to an increase in global temperatures, as well as disruptive weather and climate patterns.
