Last Year Hottest ‘By Far’: World’s Oceans Top Temperature Records Again

Remember, air pollution is just a step on the way to becoming water pollution. This was the most memorable one-liner in a class on Energy and Public Policy I took in 1974. Of course, the big subject in those days was acid rain but the policy holds true for global heat retention. Whatever heats the atmosphere will eventually heat the oceans. 2017 was a record year for warming oceans. It was also a record year for damaging hurricanes with Harvey's damage to greater Houston at over $125 billion leading a $300+billion total in natural disasters.

Last Year Hottest ‘By Far’: World’s Oceans Top Temperature Records Again

David Goldman 28.01.2018

New data has revealed that the world's oceans have reached the hottest temperatures ever recorded, and by a significant margin.

CCA new analysis conducted by a Chinese research paper published on Friday in a peer-reviewed journal entitled ‘2017 Was the Warmest Year on Record for the Global Ocean' detailed the last year to be the hottest year for ocean temperatures since records began being kept.

"The long-term warming trend driven by human activities continued unabated," stated researchers Lijing Cheng and Jiang Zhu, in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

"The high ocean temperatures in recent years have occurred as greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere have also risen, reaching record highs in 2017," added the authors of the report, cited by Commondreams.org.

Commenting on the newly-released data, thermal sciences professor John Abraham with the University of St. Thomas School of Engineering, Minnesota, noted that almost all of the globe's heat is stored in the oceans.

"In terms of understanding how fast the Earth is warming, the key is the oceans," Abraham said, cited by The Guardian. Although minor temperature fluctuations each year are considered to be within statistical norms, particularly as natural meteorological cycles such as the Pacific Ocean's El Niño/La Niña affect global weather patterns, Abraham asserted that, "the long-term upward trend that extends back many decades does prove global warming."

"The human greenhouse gas footprint continues to impact the Earth system," noted the study's researchers, pointing out that long term consequences include not just a sea level rise, but also "declining ocean oxygen, bleaching of coral reefs, and melting sea ice and ice shelves," cited by Phys.org.

"The consequences of this year-after-year-after-year warming have real impacts on humans," noted Abraham. more