Oceans warmest in 2019 – study

A NEW analysis by scientists from 11 institutions across the globe has revealed that the world’s oceans were the hottest in recorded history in 2019, caused by greenhouse gases from human activities.

The study was published in the Advances in Atmospheric Sciences journal earlier this week and was conducted by an international team of 14 scientists.

Lijing Cheng, the lead author and associate professor with the International Centre for Climate and Environmental Sciences at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) said this measured ocean warming was irrefutable and was further proof of global warming.

“There are no reasonable alternatives aside from the human emissions of heat-trapping gases to explain this heating,” said Cheng.

Another scientist, Jiang Zhu, said the study found that the past 10 years had been the warmest on record for ocean temperatures, with the past five years holding the highest record.

“Since 1970, more than 90% of global warming heat went into the ocean, while less than 4% of the heat warmed the atmosphere and land where humans live,” said Zhu.

According to the study, the 2019 ocean temperature is about 0.075ºc above the 19812010 average.

Cheng likened the amount of heat put into the world’s oceans in the past 25 years to 3.6 billion Hiroshima atom-bomb explosions.

The newly available data allowed the researchers to examine warmth trends dating back to the 1950s. – Staff Writer