‘Striking’: Global oceans are warming fastest in two specific regions
Scientists found a pronounced pattern in the way the world’s oceans have warmed over the past two decades
The world’s oceans are warming as the climate warms—but these waters aren’t all warming at the same rate.
A recent study revealed that ocean temperatures around the world are increasing fastest in two specific regions—leading to a remarkable pattern.
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Global sea surface temperatures reached record highs through most of 2023 and into the start of 2024. Abnormally warm waters in the Atlantic have driven active hurricane seasons for the past several years.
A paper published this month in the American Meteorological Society’s Journal of Climate analyzed ocean heat content to find out where the globe’s oceans are warming the fastest.
Ocean heat content (OHC) describes the amount of heat stored through a column of the ocean, usually down to around 700 to 2,000 metres in depth. OHC is a better measure of heat stored in the oceans than sea surface temperatures alone.
The team looked at OHC between 2000 and 2023, comparing the data to baseline temperatures measured between 2000 and 2004. What they found was ‘striking,’ as the scientists put it.
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Global oceans are warming fastest around 40°N and 40°S. This advanced rate of warming is prominent off the coasts of Japan and the U.S. in the northern hemisphere, and around New Zealand and Argentina in the southern hemisphere.
Researchers found that the strongest heating is located across the southern hemisphere, where clouds have exerted less of an influence on solar radiation reaching the water.
Increasing warmth observed in the world’s oceans is likely the result of both climate change and “internal natural variability,” the researchers note.
The atmosphere and the oceans are coupled together—one affects the other. This feedback can determine where waters warm the fastest and to what extent. Changing wind patterns have influenced ocean currents, which likely led to these pronounced bands of increased warming around 40 degrees latitude in both hemispheres.
Header image created using graphics and imagery from Canva.