{"id":37645,"date":"2025-07-26T01:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T01:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/37645\/"},"modified":"2025-07-26T01:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T01:27:10","slug":"for-worlds-oceans-an-unwanted-heat-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/37645\/","title":{"rendered":"For World’s Oceans, an Unwanted Heat Record"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n A new study finds that 2023 set an alarming record for marine heatwaves, with 96% of the world’s oceans experiencing extreme events. Researchers say these heatwaves\u2014unusually warm periods in the ocean\u2014were the largest, most intense, and most persistent since records began in the 1950s. The study, published in Science,<\/a> links the surge to human-driven climate change and hints that the oceans may be nearing a significant climate threshold, though scientists are cautious about declaring a definitive “tipping point.” <\/p>\n


\n The heatwaves lasted four times longer than average, with the most intense warming recorded in the North and tropical Pacific, North Atlantic, and South Pacific, LiveScience<\/a> reports. The North Atlantic saw a heatwave stretch 525 days, while the Southwest Pacific broke records for both size and duration. Researchers pinpoint reduced cloud cover, weaker winds, shifts in ocean currents, and a strong El Ni\u00f1o as key drivers. Water temperatures remained above average last year and this year, causing die-offs and threatening coral reefs, kelp forests, fisheries, and the livelihoods that depend on them. \n <\/p>\n


\n Researcher Zhenzhong Zeng at the Southern University of Science and Technology says he believes the heatwaves are the start of a “new normal,” with heat accumulating exponentially, contrary to most climate models, the New Scientist<\/a> reports. While some scientists see 2023 as a possible warning sign of irreversible changes, others urge caution. Michael McPhaden, a senior NOAA scientist not involved in the study, notes that while climate change is raising the odds of extreme events, natural cycles like El Ni\u00f1o also play a significant role in yearly fluctuation. \n <\/p>\n

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\n Neil Holbrook at the University of Tasmania in Australia says that while there doesn’t seem to be “clear evidence” of a tipping point, if emissions are not curbed, he says, “marine heatwaves around the globe will continue to increase in intensity and duration, and potentially at rates faster than various marine species can adapt.” Zeng says some of the NOAA data his team used in their research is no longer available, Bloomberg<\/a> reports. He says the NOAA cutbacks are a “disaster.” \n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A new study finds that 2023 set an alarming record for marine heatwaves, with 96% of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37646,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[4253,30595,192,30596,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-37645","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-climate-change","9":"tag-coral-bleaching","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-heat-wave","12":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}