The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
The world’s oceans are warming at a quickening rate, with the past 20 years accounting for half of the increase in ocean heat content that has occurred since pre-industrial times, a new study has found. US scientists discovered that much of the extra heat in the ocean is buried deep …
Formal detection and attribution studies have used observations and climate models to identify an anthropogenic warming signature in the upper (0–700 m) ocean. Recently, as a result of the so-called surface warming hiatus, there has been considerable interest in global ocean heat content (OHC) changes in the deeper ocean, including …
Within large uncertainties in the precipitation response to greenhouse gas forcing, the Southeast Pacific drying stands out as a robust signature within climate models. A precipitation decline, of consistent direction but of larger amplitude than obtained in simulations with historical climate forcing, has been observed in central Chile since the …
The scale of the problem facing the world's oceans first struck Boyan Slat during a summer holiday to Greece when he was 16. Instead of colourful fish in azure waters, his abiding memory of the trip is of plastic debris on beaches and in the waves. Now 21, the Dutch …
As nations across the globe negotiate how to reduce their contributions to climate change, researchers at Penn are investigating just how the coming changes will impact the planet. What's clear is that the effect extends beyond simple warming. Indeed, the very physics and chemistry of the oceans are also shifting, …
Oceans are vital, not only to a wide array of biodiversity and ecosystems, but also to the food chains, livelihoods and climate regulation for a human population heading towards nine billion people. That is why this report shares stories that illustrate how economic indicators and development strategies can better reflect …
Marine sediments from the North Pacific document two episodes of expansion and strengthening of the subsurface oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) accompanied by seafloor hypoxia during the last deglacial transition. The mechanisms driving this hypoxia remain under debate. We present a new high-resolution alkenone palaeotemperature reconstruction from the Gulf of Alaska …
Widespread adoption of products labelled 'biodegradable' will not significantly decrease the volume of plastic entering the ocean or the physical and chemical risks that plastics pose to marine environment, concluded a UN report released. The report, "Biodegradable Plastics and Marine Litter. Misconceptions, Concerns and Impacts on Marine Environments", finds that …
Urban populations are highly vulnerable to the adverse effects of heat, with heat-related mortality showing intra-urban variations that are likely due to differences in urban characteristics and socioeconomic status. The objective was to investigate the influence of urban green and urban blue, i.e., urban vegetation and water bodies, on heat-related …
A new scientific study says that rapidly warming waters off the New England coast have had a severe consequence — the collapse of a cod fishery that saw too many catches even as overall cod numbers declined due to warmer seas. It’s just the latest in a series of findings …
An island nation in the Pacific Ocean that's smaller than New York City has created an ocean reserve that's bigger than California. The president of Palau signed legislation Wednesday designating a reserve that's about 193,000 square miles (500,000 square kilometers) in size. This makes it one of the five largest …
Only four percent of the ocean is protected, and marine protected areas (MPA) make up all of that four percent, according to researchers from the University of British Columbia, Institute for Ocean and Fisheries. "The targets call for much more than just 10 percent protection," said Lisa Boonzaier, lead author …
Antarctica’s contribution to global sea-level rise has recently been increasing . Whether its ice discharge will become unstable and decouple from anthropogenic forcing or increase linearly with the warming of the surrounding ocean is of fundamental importance . Under unabated greenhouse-gas emissions, ocean models indicate an abrupt intrusion of warm …
Global mean sea levels are projected to gradually rise in response to greenhouse warming. However, on shorter time scales, modes of natural climate variability in the Pacific, such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), can affect regional sea level variability and extremes, with considerable impacts on coastal ecosystems and island …
Researchers have developed carbon-capturing machines much smaller than the width of a human hair, which could one day combat ocean acidification and global warming. According to nanoengineers from the University of California in San Diego, the enzyme-functionalized micromotors can rapidly zoom around in water, remove carbon dioxide and convert it …
Commercial fishing would be allowed in sensitive coral reefs and pristine waters off Australia under advice set to be presented to the Turnbull government that discards landmark marine protections, conservationists say. Critics say the review of 40 marine reserves is also unlikely to curtail the oil and gas industry, which …
Reduced surface–deep ocean exchange and enhanced nutrient consumption by phytoplankton in the Southern Ocean have been linked to lower glacial atmospheric CO2. However, identification of the biological and physical conditions involved and the related processes remains incomplete. Here we specify Southern Ocean surface–subsurface contrasts using a new tool, the combined …
The vast Southern Ocean around Antarctica has started to soak up more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in recent years, helping limit climate change, after signs its uptake had stalled, a study said on Thursday. The Southern Ocean's natural absorption of carbon roughly doubled to 1.2 billion tonnes in 2011 …
Like the leaves of New England maples, phytoplankton, the microalgae at the base of most oceanic food webs, photosynthesize when exposed to sunlight. In the process, they absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, converting it to carbohydrates and oxygen. Many phytoplankton species also release dimethyl sulfide (DMS) into the atmosphere, …
A new report has found that developing new technologies to cope with the effects of climate change is critical in the coming years. In this photo, houses on stilts are seen as the sun sets around the Manila bay in Manila February 5, 2015. Reuters/Romeo Ranoco Scientists said that a …
