Posted: 30.01.2023 17:51:00

World ocean set new record for absorbed heat

An international team of climatologists has concluded that, over the past year, volumes of the heat stored in upper layers of the World Ocean waters grew to a record level of 255 zettajoules, or 10.9 zettajoules more than in 2020, TASS reports with reference to Science Advances journal

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Climatologists believe the World Ocean remains the main natural retard of climate change. Since the pre-industrial era, its waters have absorbed about 90 percent of the heat and about a third of the carbon dioxide emitted by industrial enterprises, machines and other pollutants. This process not only slows down climate change, but can also cause drastic changes in ecosystems of the seas.

Researchers have studied the process of thermal energy accumulation in the upper part of the World Ocean from the mid-20th century to 2022. To do this, they used climate models and data collected by 3,000 surface and underwater buoys, as well as autonomous tracking stations as part of the Argo oceanographic programme.

Calculations have shown that reduction in emissions associated with the coronavirus pandemic and the global economic crisis did not prevent the World Ocean from setting another record in terms of volumes of the heat stored in its thickness. Over the past year, it absorbed 1.5 times more heat than the average annual figures for the last 40 years.