Rate of ocean warming has nearly doubled since 2005: EU monitor

BREST, France: The pace at which oceans are warming has almost doubled since 2005 as global temperatures rise because of human-caused climate change, a report from the EU monitor Copernicus said on Monday.

The findings by the Copernicus Marine Service underscore the consequences of a warming planet on oceans, which cover 70 percent of earth´s surface and acts as a major regulator of the climate.

Ocean warming has “increased continuously” since the 1960s but sharply accelerated in the years since 2005, oceanographer Karina von Schuckmann from Copernicus told reporters. Over the past two decades, the pace of warming has close to doubled from a long-term rate of 0.58 watts per m2 to 1.05 watts per m2.

“Ocean warming can be seen as our sentinel for global warming,” said von Schuckmann, a specialist on the unique role the ocean plays in Earth´s climate system. The findings echo the IPCC, the expert panel of climate scientists mandated by the United Nations, on the longer-term heating of the oceans because of humanity´s release of planet-heating emissions.

Since 1970 some 90 percent of excess heat trapped in the atmosphere due to the release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gasses has been absorbed in the oceans, the IPCC says. Warmer oceans fuel storms, hurricanes and other extreme weather by influencing global weather patterns and where rainfall lands.