geoff: The ocean is rapidly
heating up hitting
record-breaking levels.
The national oceanic and
atmospheric administration
reported this week that ocean
surface temperatures sparked in
April and may to the highest
levels recorded since the
1950's.
This could have dangerous
consequences for aquatic life,
hurricane activity and global
weather patterns.
To better understand what is
happening we spoke with a
distinguished scholar at the
center for atmospheric research.
Reporter: Welcome back to the
newshour and thank you for
joining us.
The temperature increases have a
lot of folks concerned.
And sharks -- and charts like
this one have gone viral.
This one shows mean temperatures
from 1982 to 2023 in the north
atlantic sea.
The red line is 2023.
Should that increase concern us?
>> Indeed.
And it is not just the north
atlantic.
Geoff: Why are we seeing the
increases in what should we
understand about them?
>> We have written reports every
year for a number of years.
The oceans as a whole for the
top two kilometers of the ocean
are the warmest on record.
2022 is the warmest year on
record.
2020 was the warmest year before
that.
Global warmer is happening.
The other thing playing a major
role at the moment is over the
last three years we have had la
niña conditions, relatively cool
conditions.
Now, we are into el niño
conditions, rather warm
conditions.
There is some pronounced warming
off the west coast of south
America, Peru and Ecuador it is
disrupting the fisheries there.
It has warmed across that
sector.
The oceans, the surface of the
ocean as a whole is a warmest on
record and has been since April,
may and into June.
And we are running 2/10 of a
degree celsius to anything prior
to that and substantially above
the long-term average.
Reporter: Let's talk about one
of the impacts.
What do those conditions coming
together mean particularly as we
move into hurricane season?
>> It means that along with the
general weather that goes on,
there are hotspots in the ocean
coming increasingly intense and
frequent.
The hotspots attract a lot of
weather activity above them.
Convection of different kinds.
Small-scale storms intensify or
hurricanes.
They move around naturally.
It is a little difficult to say
exactly where these spots are
going to be.
But the fact that they are
occurring more and more is a
part of this overall local
warming signature we have.
They have real consequences in
many ways.
Reporter: What about the impact
of the warmer waters on aquatic
life?
There were pictures that got a
lot of attention recently
showing thousands of dead fish
washing ashore along the Texas
gulf coast in recent days.
How much of that is attributed
to the warmer waters?
>> With global warming over 90%
of the excess energy being
generated every day goes into
the oceans.
And in the oceans, it warms from
the top down.
That means warm water is sitting
on top of cold water which is a
stable configuration.
What we have been able to
document is the oceans are
becoming more stratified.
That means the natural exchanges
of air of all kinds including
carbon the oxide and oxygen --
carbon dioxide and oxygen are
less than what they used to be.
In general this is overcome by
wave action.
By disturbances in the
atmosphere.
But in conditions where there
are no waves or wind to speak
of, and I believe that is what
happened in the gulf which can
also be complicated by nutrient
runoff.
Some pollution in the gulf
itself.
Those conditions come together
and create no oxygen conditions
for the fish.
Reporter: Big picture, when
people see these increases and
temperatures and a catches their
attention, they see air
temperatures and global sea
temperatures at record highs,
what should they understand
about that?
How much of that is attributed
to climate change?
>> The first part of the year
will hold it down.
2023 may not be the warmest year
on record.
At the moment that is held by
2016.
It will be close.
But 2020 four is looking as
though it will be the warmest
year on record.
And part of this is el niño.
But certainly the relentless
increases in temperatures around
the world are related to the
global warming problem that we
have an climate change.
Reporter: Do the increases say
to you the rate of climate
change is accelerating?
>> It is the case.
The amount of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere goes up and
continues to go up.
Close to record levels.
There has been little indication
that all of the actions that
governments and people around
the world are taking is
knocking back the amount of
emissions of carbon dioxide into
the atmosphere.
This is the bottom line as to
how the atmosphere is changing
and carbon dioxide is a
greenhouse gas that produces
global warming.
Reporter: Thank you for your
time.
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