Latest news with #oceanwarming
SBS Australia
a day ago
- Climate
- SBS Australia
Mapping the effects of extreme weather in our region
Sixteen experts from across different areas of expertise contributed to the report, titled State of the Climate in the South-West Pacific, produced by the World Meteorological Organisation, or WMO. The WMO is a specialised agency of the United Nations responsible for sharing knowledge internationally on the status of the Earth's atmosphere and its interaction with oceans, lands and climate. This report specifically looks at weather events in our region and the impact of these events on public health, ecosystems and economies. One of the key findings in the report was that in 2024, ocean warming in the South-West Pacific had reached unprecedented levels. Ben Churchill is the Director of the Regional Office for Asia and the South-West Pacific at the WMO. "Average for the region as a whole, sea surface temperatures reached record highs in 2024 by a substantial margin, and part of that is the result of the El Nino event finished in 2024. But a large part of it relates to the background warming trend, which over the last 40 years is in the order of 0.13 of the degree per decade. We see some areas are particularly strong warming in the region, particularly in the parts of the southern Tasman sea off the east coast of Australia and in areas of the South Pacific of New Zealand. But most of the region has seen warming sea surface temperatures except for some parts of the far east of the region." The last year also saw extreme rainfall and subsequent flooding, impacting Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The report says that a significant proportion of the population of Pacific Islands live close to the coast, making any rise in sea-levels a particular threat to these communities. Extreme heat also affected large parts of the region in 2024 with the record breaking temperatures causing the rapid loss of glacier ice in the region. Ben Churchill is the Director of the Regional Office for Asia and the South-West Pacific at the WMO. "In Indonesia glacier ice loss continued rapidly in 2024. We've seen declines of 30 to 50 per cent since 2022. In 2024, ocean warming in the southwest Pacific reached unprecedented levels. Sea level rise continues and across the region exceeded the global average and especially threatening low lying Pacific Islands. And noting here that half the population in this region live within 500 meters of the coast. So putting them at a greater level of risk, widespread extreme rainfall and flooding caused deadly and destructive impacts in Australia, New Zealand, and also countries in the Pacific and also in Southeast Asia." How well-prepared has Australia and other countries in the region been in anticipating and mitigating these events? The report says the Philippines saw 12 storms between September-November 2024. Ben Churchill says that country's early warning systems allowed communities to better prepare and respond to the storms. "We are also part of a major United Nations initiative, early warnings for all in partnership with the United Nations office, disaster risk reduction, the International Telecommunication Union and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. And the key message here is that strengthened early warning systems and its reaction in the Philippines as was outlined by Blair, actually enabled communities to prepare and respond to this unprecedented number of tropical cyclones and storms which help to protect lives and ensure dignified timely support." A 2024 State of the Climate report found Australia's climate has warmed by an average of 1.5C since national records began in 1902. University of Melbourne Emeritus Professor David Karoly is also a councillor with the Climate Institute. He says Australia saw record high temperatures in 2024 and the early part of 2025, with global average temperatures also higher than average. "They've contributed to record high amounts of water vapor in the atmosphere and obviously higher amounts of water vapor lead to extreme rainfall amounts and that's what the ocean temperatures, the high ocean temperatures have led to record flooding cases like in Taree in New South Wales in the May period. But equally, we've also had some extreme weather events like Tropical Cyclone Alfred that tracked from the Coral Sea region towards the southeast Queensland coast." Professor Karol says this led to very high rainfall amounts in southeast Queensland as well as the northeast New South Wales region. That led to massive erosion of beaches in Queensland, particularly the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast, and the northern parts of New South Wales. As far as how prepared Australia is to deal with these challenges, Professor Karol says the Albanese government has been preparing a national climate risk assessment. "It was due out before the federal election in 2025, but its release was delayed for reasons why it was delayed, you'd have to ask the Albanese government. The suggestion is that it was too scary and therefore they decided not to release it before the election. But there's also a national climate adaptation plan that was due out at as soon as possible after that national climate risk assessment was released. And that has also not been released yet. And that was the plans for adapting to these sorts of increasing extreme weather events in Australia and planning for those."
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Climate
- RNZ News
Study shows Pacific nations 'sandwiched' between storm bands
Storm clouds rolling into Wellington on 12 August, 2024. Photo: Supplied / James Bass A climate scientist has discovered that two specific bands of the globe are warming faster than elsewhere. Auckland University's Dr Kevin Trenberth led a study examining where heat - captured by the ocean - travels and accumulates. The first band - at 40 to 45 degrees latitude south - is heating at the world's fastest pace, with the effect especially pronounced around New Zealand, Tasmania, and Atlantic waters east of Argentina. The second band is around 40 degrees north, with the biggest effects in waters east of the United States in the North Atlantic and east of Japan in the North Pacific. Dr Trenberth said it could be why storms that track to New Zealand - from an area warming at a slower rate - seem to strengthen once they get there. He said it's "striking" and "unusual" to see such a distinctive pattern. "It turns out there are changes in ocean currents going on, coupled with changes in the atmospheric circulation - changes in the jet stream - and where all of the storm tracks are going." The heat bands have developed since 2005 in tandem with poleward shifts in the jet stream (powerful winds above the Earth's surface that blow from west to east) and corresponding shifts in ocean currents, according to Trenberth and his co-authors in the Journal of Climate . Trenberth said most Pacific Island nations fall within the subtropics, which are "still quite warm" but heating at a slower rate. But they are effectively sandwiched between the two bands where harsher storms form more frequently. In areas which are warmer, Dr Trenberth said that stronger storms with heavier rainfall are fuelled as they pick up more moisture, taking heat out of the ocean, and sending off along their track. "No doubt the heat will come back into these regions, because of the way in which the winds are changing in the atmosphere." For New Zealand and its neighbours, Dr Trenberth said that these findings could help explain why each new year breaks heat records. "It comes back to what is really going on in the oceans," he said. "They have now warmed up so that they are major players in the global warming picture."
Malay Mail
4 days 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
Free Malaysia Today
4 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Oceans feel the heat from human climate pollution
Signs of ocean stress have appeared, including heatwaves, marine species loss, rising sea levels, oxygen depletion, and acidification. (EPA Images pic) 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. By absorbing more than 90% 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% and 90% are expected to be lost this century if the world reaches 1.5C 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% 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.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
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. - 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 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. bl/klm/mh/phz
