Nature and Biodiversity

Our oceans are 60% hotter than scientists originally thought, according to a new report

The sun sets into the Pacific Ocean off Oceanside, California, March 14, 2011.   REUTERS/Mike Blake  (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENVIRONMENT) - GM1E73F111R01

More sobering news for our planet. Image: REUTERS/Mike Blake

Kevin Kelleher

Three weeks after the United Nations issued a sobering climate report that called for “rapid and unprecedented” changes in energy use, a study examining ocean temperatures suggests that global warming could happen at a faster pace than previously believed.

The study, published in Nature Wednesday and conducted by researchers at Princeton University and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, estimated that the world’s oceans absorbed 60% more heat energy between 1991 and 2016 than previous studies have indicated. That could indicate the Earth is warming faster than scientists have been estimating.

“We thought that we got away with not a lot of warming in both the ocean and the atmosphere for the amount of CO2 that we emitted,” Laure Resplandy, a Princeton geoscientist who led the study told the Washington Post. “But we were wrong. The planet warmed more than we thought. It was hidden from us just because we didn’t sample it right. But it was there. It was in the ocean already.”

Image: Nature

Previous efforts to measure ocean temperature involved an “imperfect ocean dataset” limited by incomplete or differing measurements, the study’s abstract says. The researchers used a different way to measure ocean warmth, “an independent estimate by using measurements of atmospheric oxygen and carbon dioxide—levels of which increase as the ocean warms and releases gases—as a whole-ocean thermometer.”

Have you read?

Earlier this month, the U.N. issued a landmark report that said a rise in global temperatures above 1.5 degrees Celsius—which could come as early as 2030—could cause catastrophic damage unless “rapid and unprecedented” changes in energy use is made before then.

President Trump has downplayed the report, telling 60 Minutes that “something’s changing and it’ll change back again.” Meanwhile, business leaders have received the report with a greater sense of urgency.

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

Sign up for free

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.

Stay up to date:

Future of the Environment

Related topics:
Nature and BiodiversityGlobal Risks
Share:
The Big Picture
Explore and monitor how Future of the Environment is affecting economies, industries and global issues
World Economic Forum logo

Forum Stories newsletter

Bringing you weekly curated insights and analysis on the global issues that matter.

Subscribe today

How greenways can boost nature-positive living by shaping urban mobility

Federico Cartín Arteaga and Heather Thompson

December 20, 2024

2:29

5 top nature stories of 2024

About us

Engage with us

  • Sign in
  • Partner with us
  • Become a member
  • Sign up for our press releases
  • Subscribe to our newsletters
  • Contact us

Quick links

Language editions

Privacy Policy & Terms of Service

Sitemap

© 2024 World Economic Forum