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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jan/09/profound-impacts-record-ocean-heat-intensifying-climate-disasters>
"The world’s oceans absorbed colossal amounts of heat in 2025, setting yet
another new record and fuelling more extreme weather, scientists have reported.
More than 90% of the heat trapped by humanity’s carbon pollution is taken up by
the oceans. This makes ocean heat one of the starkest indicators of the
relentless march of the climate crisis, which will only end when emissions fall
to zero. Almost every year since the start of the millennium has set a new
ocean heat record.
This extra heat makes the hurricanes and typhoons hitting coastal communities
more intense, causes heavier downpours of rain and greater flooding, and
results in longer marine heatwaves, which decimate life in the seas. The rising
heat is also a major driver of sea level rise via the thermal expansion of
seawater, threatening billions of people.
Reliable ocean temperature measurements stretch back to the mid-20th century,
but it is likely the oceans are at their hottest for at least 1,000 years and
heating faster than at any time in the past 2,000 years.
The atmosphere is a smaller store of heat and more affected by natural climate
variations such as the El Niño-La Niña cycle. The average surface air
temperature in 2025 is expected to approximately tie with 2023 as the
second-hottest year since records began in 1850, with 2024 being the hottest.
Last year the planet moved into the cooler La Niña phase of the Pacific Ocean
cycle.
“Each year the planet is warming – setting a new record has become a broken
record,” said Prof John Abraham at the University of St Thomas in Minnesota,
US, and part of the team that produced the new data.
“Global warming is ocean warming,” he said. “If you want to know how much the
Earth has warmed or how fast we will warm into the future, the answer is in the
oceans.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
