Oceans have absorbed 60% of the planet's heat



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The oceans of our planet are absorbing more heat than scientists have thought up to now, which is a new hidden difficulty in controlling climate change. A new scientific study found that during the period 1991-2016, the seas retained about 60% more heat each year, compared to previous estimates made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. United Nations climate (IPCC). .

In fact, according to scientists, this means that the Earth is more exposed to fossil fuel emissions than we thought until now. Thus, humanity may have even less "window of opportunity" to avoid devastating climate change.

After a new badessment of the absorption of the seas (based on a new, more accurate measurement method), scientists estimate that – so that global warming does not exceed two degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels – the emissions of dioxide carbon, the main "greenhouse gas", should be reduced by 25% more than previous estimates.

Researchers from Princeton University and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography of the University of California, led by Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences, Los Rospandi, who published this publication in the journal Nature, have estimated that during the period 1991-2016 the Earth's oceans absorbed zettajoules of thermal energy (one joule followed by 21 zeros). This energy is 150 times higher than that produced by people every year in the form of electricity.

Scientists know that the oceans absorb about 90% of all the extra heat produced by global warming. The discovery that the seas absorb even more heat, apart from the impact on climate change, means that even less oxygen will be available in the available water for marine organisms and ecosystems, while sea level will also rise. when the water is heated, it "swells".

Reuters Photo

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