What is it about?
Marine heatwaves are worsening due to global warming. By comparing actual sea surface temperatures with a version without human-caused warming, we show that climate change is the main driver of stronger and longer marine heatwaves since 2000.
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Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This is important because marine heatwaves can severely damage marine ecosystems on which millions of people depend for food, jobs, and climate stability. Unraveling the relationship between global warming and local changes ocean surface temperatures serves to anticipate future climate-related hazards and supports the definition of realistic climate and biodiversity targets and the design of mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Perspectives
This work provides valuable additional insight into the drivers of marine heatwaves, reinforcing and consolidating existing knowledge about the strong influence of global warming on the ocean temperatures. In addition, the methodology used here is robust and transferable, offering a framework that can be applied to other climate-related extreme events.
Marta Marcos
University of the Balearic Islands
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Global warming drives a threefold increase in persistence and 1
°
C rise in intensity of marine heatwaves, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, April 2025, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2413505122.
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