Latest news with #IPCC
New Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Science
- New Straits Times
Oceans feel the heat from human climate pollution
OCEANS have absorbed the vast majority of the warming caused by burning fossil fuels and shielded societies from the full impact of greenhouse gas emissions. But this crucial ally has developed alarming symptoms of stress – heatwaves, loss of marine life, rising sea levels, falling oxygen levels and acidification caused by the uptake of excess carbon dioxide. These effects risk not just the health of the ocean but the entire planet. By absorbing more than 90 per cent of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, "oceans are warming faster and faster", said Angelique Melet, an oceanographer at the European Mercator Ocean monitor. The UN's IPCC climate expert panel has said the rate of ocean warming – and therefore its heat uptake – has more than doubled since 1993. Average sea surface temperatures reached new records in 2023 and 2024. Despite a respite at the start of 2025, temperatures remain at historic highs, according to data from the Europe Union's Copernicus climate monitor. The Mediterranean has set a new temperature record in each of the past three years and is one of the basins most affected, along with the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, said Thibault Guinaldo, of France's CEMS research centre. Marine heatwaves have doubled in frequency, become longer lasting and more intense, and affect a wider area, the IPCC said in its special oceans report. Warmer seas can make storms more violent, feeding them with heat and evaporated water. The heating water can also be devastating for species, especially corals and seagrass beds, which are unable to migrate. For corals, between 70 per cent and 90 per cent are expected to be lost this century if the world reaches 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming compared to pre-industrial levels. Scientists expect that threshold – the more ambitious goal of the Paris climate deal – to be breached in the early 2030s or even before. When a liquid or gas warms up, it expands and takes up more space. In the case of the oceans, this thermal expansion combines with the slow but irreversible melting of the world's ice caps and mountain glaciers to lift the world's seas. The pace at which global oceans are rising has doubled in three decades and if current trends continue it will double again by 2100 to about one centimetre per year, according to recent research. Around 230 million people worldwide live less than a metre above sea level, vulnerable to increasing threats from floods and storms. "Ocean warming, like sea-level rise, has become an inescapable process on the scale of our lives, but also over several centuries," said Melet. "But if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we will reduce the rate and magnitude of the damage, and gain time for adaptation." The ocean not only stores heat, it has also taken up 20 to 30 per cent of all humans' carbon dioxide emissions since the 1980s, according to the IPCC, causing the waters to become more acidic. Acidification weakens corals and makes it harder for shellfish and the skeletons of crustaceans and certain plankton to calcify. "Another key indicator is oxygen concentration, which is obviously important for marine life," said Melet. Oxygen loss is due to a complex set of causes including those linked to warming waters. Combined Arctic and Antarctic sea ice cover – frozen ocean water that floats on the surface – plunged to a record low in mid-February, more than a million square miles below the pre-2010 average. This becomes a vicious circle, with less sea ice allowing more solar energy to reach and warm the water, leading to more ice melting. This feeds the phenomenon of "polar amplification" that makes global warming faster and more intense at the poles, said Guinaldo.
Kuwait Times
4 hours ago
- Science
- Kuwait Times
Oceans feeling the heat from human climate pollution
PARIS: Oceans have absorbed the vast majority of the warming caused by burning fossil fuels and shielded societies from the full impact of greenhouse gas emissions. But this crucial ally has developed alarming symptoms of stress—heatwaves, loss of marine life, rising sea levels, falling oxygen levels and acidification caused by the uptake of excess carbon dioxide. These effects risk not just the health of the ocean but the entire planet. Heating up By absorbing more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, 'oceans are warming faster and faster', said Angelique Melet, an oceanographer at the European Mercator Ocean monitor. The UN's IPCC climate expert panel has said the rate of ocean warming—and therefore its heat uptake—has more than doubled since 1993. Average sea surface temperatures reached new records in 2023 and 2024. Despite a respite at the start of 2025, temperatures remain at historic highs, according to data from the Europe Union's Copernicus climate monitor. The Mediterranean has set a new temperature record in each of the past three years and is one of the basins most affected, along with the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, said Thibault Guinaldo, of France's CEMS research centre. Marine heatwaves have doubled in frequency, become longer lasting and more intense, and affect a wider area, the IPCC said in its special oceans report. Warmer seas can make storms more violent, feeding them with heat and evaporated water. The heating water can also be devastating for species, especially corals and seagrass beds, which are unable to migrate. For corals, between 70 percent and 90 percent are expected to be lost this century if the world reaches 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming compared to pre-industrial levels. Scientists expect that threshold—the more ambitious goal of the Paris climate deal—to be breached in the early 2030s or even before. Relentless rise When a liquid or gas warms up, it expands and takes up more space. In the case of the oceans, this thermal expansion combines with the slow but irreversible melting of the world's ice caps and mountain glaciers to lift the world's seas. The pace at which global oceans are rising has doubled in three decades and if current trends continue it will double again by 2100 to about one centimeter per year, according to recent research. Around 230 million people worldwide live less than a meter above sea level, vulnerable to increasing threats from floods and storms. 'Ocean warming, like sea-level rise, has become an inescapable process on the scale of our lives, but also over several centuries,' said Melet. 'But if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we will reduce the rate and magnitude of the damage, and gain time for adaptation'. More acidity, less oxygen The ocean not only stores heat, it has also taken up 20 to 30 percent of all humans' carbon dioxide emissions since the 1980s, according to the IPCC, causing the waters to become more acidic. Acidification weakens corals and makes it harder for shellfish and the skeletons of crustaceans and certain plankton to calcify. 'Another key indicator is oxygen concentration, which is obviously important for marine life,' said Melet. Oxygen loss is due to a complex set of causes including those linked to warming waters. Reduced sea ice Combined Arctic and Antarctic sea ice cover—frozen ocean water that floats on the surface—plunged to a record low in mid-February, more than a million square miles below the pre-2010 average. This becomes a vicious circle, with less sea ice allowing more solar energy to reach and warm the water, leading to more ice melting. This feeds the phenomenon of 'polar amplification' that makes global warming faster and more intense at the poles, said Guinaldo. - AFP
Malay Mail
15 hours ago
- Health
- Malay Mail
More acid, less oxygen: Scientists say Earth's ‘blue ally' buckling hard and fast under climate strain
PARIS, June 2 — Oceans have absorbed the vast majority of the warming caused by burning fossil fuels and shielded societies from the full impact of greenhouse gas emissions. But this crucial ally has developed alarming symptoms of stress – heatwaves, loss of marine life, rising sea levels, falling oxygen levels and acidification caused by the uptake of excess carbon dioxide. These effects risk not just the health of the ocean but the entire planet. Heating up By absorbing more than 90 per cent of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, 'oceans are warming faster and faster', said Angelique Melet, an oceanographer at the European Mercator Ocean monitor. The UN's IPCC climate expert panel has said the rate of ocean warming – and therefore its heat uptake – has more than doubled since 1993. Average sea surface temperatures reached new records in 2023 and 2024. Despite a respite at the start of 2025, temperatures remain at historic highs, according to data from the Europe Union's Copernicus climate monitor. The Mediterranean has set a new temperature record in each of the past three years and is one of the basins most affected, along with the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, said Thibault Guinaldo, of France's CEMS research centre. Marine heatwaves have doubled in frequency, become longer lasting and more intense, and affect a wider area, the IPCC said in its special oceans report. Warmer seas can make storms more violent, feeding them with heat and evaporated water. The heating water can also be devastating for species, especially corals and seagrass beds, which are unable to migrate. For corals, between 70 per cent and 90 per cent are expected to be lost this century if the world reaches 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming compared to pre-industrial levels. Scientists expect that threshold -- the more ambitious goal of the Paris climate deal -- to be breached in the early 2030s or even before. Relentless rise When a liquid or gas warms up, it expands and takes up more space. In the case of the oceans, this thermal expansion combines with the slow but irreversible melting of the world's ice caps and mountain glaciers to lift the world's seas. The pace at which global oceans are rising has doubled in three decades and if current trends continue it will double again by 2100 to about one centimetre per year, according to recent research. Around 230 million people worldwide live less than a metre above sea level, vulnerable to increasing threats from floods and storms. 'Ocean warming, like sea-level rise, has become an inescapable process on the scale of our lives, but also over several centuries,' said Melet. 'But if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we will reduce the rate and magnitude of the damage, and gain time for adaptation'. This picture shows the head of a probe analysing the acidity of water at the French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea as carbon dioxide emitted by human activities changes the chemical composition of the oceans, making the water more corrosive and complicating the life and growth of calcareous organisms like oysters, crabs, sea urchins, lobsters, and corals. — AFP pic More acidity, less oxygen The ocean not only stores heat, it has also taken up 20 to 30 per cent of all humans' carbon dioxide emissions since the 1980s, according to the IPCC, causing the waters to become more acidic. Acidification weakens corals and makes it harder for shellfish and the skeletons of crustaceans and certain plankton to calcify. 'Another key indicator is oxygen concentration, which is obviously important for marine life,' said Melet. Oxygen loss is due to a complex set of causes including those linked to warming waters. Reduced sea ice Combined Arctic and Antarctic sea ice cover – frozen ocean water that floats on the surface – plunged to a record low in mid-February, more than a million square miles below the pre-2010 average. This becomes a vicious circle, with less sea ice allowing more solar energy to reach and warm the water, leading to more ice melting. This feeds the phenomenon of 'polar amplification' that makes global warming faster and more intense at the poles, said Guinaldo. — AFP
NDTV
18 hours ago
- Science
- NDTV
Oceans Feel The Heat From Human Climate Pollution
Geneva: Oceans have absorbed the vast majority of the warming caused by burning fossil fuels and shielded societies from the full impact of greenhouse gas emissions. But this crucial ally has developed alarming symptoms of stress -- heatwaves, loss of marine life, rising sea levels, falling oxygen levels and acidification caused by the uptake of excess carbon dioxide. These effects risk not just the health of the ocean but the entire planet. Heating Up By absorbing more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases, "oceans are warming faster and faster", said Angelique Melet, an oceanographer at the European Mercator Ocean monitor. The UN's IPCC climate expert panel has said the rate of ocean warming -- and therefore its heat uptake -- has more than doubled since 1993. Average sea surface temperatures reached new records in 2023 and 2024. Despite a respite at the start of 2025, temperatures remain at historic highs, according to data from the Europe Union's Copernicus climate monitor. The Mediterranean has set a new temperature record in each of the past three years and is one of the basins most affected, along with the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans, said Thibault Guinaldo, of France's CEMS research centre. Marine heatwaves have doubled in frequency, become longer lasting and more intense, and affect a wider area, the IPCC said in its special oceans report. Warmer seas can make storms more violent, feeding them with heat and evaporated water. The heating water can also be devastating for species, especially corals and seagrass beds, which are unable to migrate. For corals, between 70 percent and 90 percent are expected to be lost this century if the world reaches 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) of warming compared to pre-industrial levels. Scientists expect that threshold -- the more ambitious goal of the Paris climate deal -- to be breached in the early 2030s or even before. Relentless Rise When a liquid or gas warms up, it expands and takes up more space. In the case of the oceans, this thermal expansion combines with the slow but irreversible melting of the world's ice caps and mountain glaciers to lift the world's seas. The pace at which global oceans are rising has doubled in three decades and if current trends continue it will double again by 2100 to about one centimetre per year, according to recent research. Around 230 million people worldwide live less than a metre above sea level, vulnerable to increasing threats from floods and storms. "Ocean warming, like sea-level rise, has become an inescapable process on the scale of our lives, but also over several centuries," said Ms Melet. "But if we reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we will reduce the rate and magnitude of the damage, and gain time for adaptation". More Acidity, Less Oxygen The ocean not only stores heat, it has also taken up 20 to 30 percent of all humans' carbon dioxide emissions since the 1980s, according to the IPCC, causing the waters to become more acidic. Acidification weakens corals and makes it harder for shellfish and the skeletons of crustaceans and certain plankton to calcify. "Another key indicator is oxygen concentration, which is obviously important for marine life," said Ms Melet. Oxygen loss is due to a complex set of causes including those linked to warming waters. Reduced Sea Ice Combined Arctic and Antarctic sea ice cover -- frozen ocean water that floats on the surface -- plunged to a record low in mid-February, more than a million square miles below the pre-2010 average. This becomes a vicious circle, with less sea ice allowing more solar energy to reach and warm the water, leading to more ice melting. This feeds the phenomenon of "polar amplification" that makes global warming faster and more intense at the poles, said Mr Guinaldo.
National Observer
19 hours ago
- Science
- National Observer
Burning through the guardrails
Less than one year ago, the world's top weather experts hosted a forum called 'Keeping 1.5 Alive' at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. You've got to imagine it was the comms team and not the scientists that picked the title. The WMO issued its medium-term forecast this week and it shows the Earth will cross that symbolic threshold in two years. The organization forecasts that temperatures will stay near or above record levels for the rest of this decade. And it estimates a 70 per cent probability that the entire five-year average will exceed 1.5 C above pre-industrial temperatures. The timeline just keeps getting tighter. Only seven years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected the world wouldn't heat beyond 1.5 C until the 2040s. Two years ago, the IPCC authors shifted the projection to the mid-2030s. Now, we're on the doorstep. Just 10 years ago, the nations of the world adopted the Paris Agreement, setting guardrails to keep global temperatures 'well below 2 C above pre-industrial levels,' and pledging 'efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 C.' They didn't define the guardrails more precisely in the treaty, but the general presumption is that they refer to a temperature average, measured over many years. Then, last year, we burned enough fossil fuels to cook our poor planet above 1.5 C for a calendar year, for the first time. But the policy wonks and other sticklers warned against alarmism. One year is not a long-term average, they cautioned — the Paris target was still alive. Even before the Paris Agreement, '1.5 to stay alive' had become a rallying cry from island nations and other especially vulnerable countries. Chants of 'keep 1.5 alive' thundered from climate protests. Scientists itemized in painful, painstaking detail how that level of warming would impact natural ecosystems, food, weather, health and habitability. Only seven years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projected the world wouldn't heat beyond 1.5 C until the 2040s. Two years ago, the IPCC authors shifted the projection to the mid-2030s. Now, we're on the doorstep. It was always a stretch goal. The nations of the world have been far quicker to adopt targets than to tackle fossil fuel burning. And the WMO's new forecast means any faint hope is mathematically implausible. 'There is no way, barring geoengineering, to prevent global temperatures from going over 1.5 degrees,' says Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at Berkeley Earth. Considering the fact that global temperatures will keep rising in the 2030s and have already been above 1.5 C for most of the past two years, 2027 will probably be the year the long-term temperature average exceeds 1.5 C. For those of you who are statistically inclined, there was another startling finding from the WMO update. For the first time, supercomputers spat out a probability (an 'exceptionally unlikely' one) of an entire year above 2 C in the next five years. 'It is shocking that 2 C is plausible,' said Adam Scaife of the UK Met Office. 'It has come out as only one per cent (probability) in the next five years, but the probability will increase as the climate warms.' All these forecasts and figures become a lot less abstract on the ground. Both Manitoba and Saskatchewan declared province-wide states of emergency this week as wildfires rage. Over 17,000 people have fled their homes in Manitoba alone. 'That is a sign of a changing climate that we are going to have to adapt to,' warned Premier Wab Kinew. Grand Chief Kyra Wilson of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs said the wildfires highlight the injustice of climate impacts on Indigenous communities. 'Our First Nations are strong and resilient, but they should not have to face these growing climate threats alone,' Wilson said. In Switzerland, this week's climate evacuations were driven by ice, not fire. The village of Blatten was almost completely buried by nine million tonnes of ice, rock and mud as temperatures thawed out the permafrost and the Birch Glacier collapsed. Glaciers in Switzerland have lost about 40 per cent of their volume since 2000 and the loss is accelerating. 'The last few years have been particularly bad,' said Daniel Farinotti, a glaciologist at ETH Zurich. 'In 2022 and 2023 alone, 10 per cent of Switzerland's glacial ice was lost due to record-high summer temperatures.' Melting glaciers can collapse catastrophically — as happened to Blatten — or melt into lakes that later burst through their natural dams. These 'glacial lake outburst floods' (GLOFs) are likened to inland tsunamis and have been happening in the Himalayas and Andes without the drone footage and media coverage of Blatten. Fifteen million people are estimated to be at risk from catastrophic GLOFs. Whether these disasters arrive through fire or ice, the obvious common thread is our overheating planet. But another is the role of forecasters. The residents of Blatten and all their animals were evacuated more than a week before the glacier collapse, thanks to advance warnings from glaciologists. Many thousands of people sheltering in wildfire evacuation centres are distraught and fearful, but they got to safety because they heeded the fire and weather forecasters. It's one of humanity's superpowers — this capacity to forecast into the future and act in the present — and it's one we desperately need, as we burn through the guardrails and the timelines tighten.
