we live on planet Ocean
Prof Matthew England, an oceanographer and climate scientist at the University of New South Wales:
“Remember our world is 70% covered by ocean. It should have been called Ocean, not Earth."
Over 90% of the energy absorbed via increasing greenhouse gases is absorbed by the oceans, which may seem like a good thing to those of us who live on land, but there are feedback systems by which warmer oceans create warmer air and more violent storms. Also warmer oceans cause sea levels to rise because warmer water occupies more volume. And warmer oceans drive species migrations and extinctions within the ocean, like warmer air drives species migrations and extinctions on land.
Later on, at some imagined point in the future when humans will have have limited or ceased our greenhouse emissions, those warmer oceans will take a long time to cool off, and will continue their feedback into warmer air for centuries. The oceans will act like a sort of heat battery that we're currently charging.
“Remember our world is 70% covered by ocean. It should have been called Ocean, not Earth."
Over 90% of the energy absorbed via increasing greenhouse gases is absorbed by the oceans, which may seem like a good thing to those of us who live on land, but there are feedback systems by which warmer oceans create warmer air and more violent storms. Also warmer oceans cause sea levels to rise because warmer water occupies more volume. And warmer oceans drive species migrations and extinctions within the ocean, like warmer air drives species migrations and extinctions on land.
Later on, at some imagined point in the future when humans will have have limited or ceased our greenhouse emissions, those warmer oceans will take a long time to cool off, and will continue their feedback into warmer air for centuries. The oceans will act like a sort of heat battery that we're currently charging.