The Oceans are Experiencing a lot of Extreme Heat – That’s Bad

The oceans are heating up fast. One term used by scientists to describe this is “extreme heat.”  This was not that common only a few decades ago.  Now, it’s very common.  This article does a good job explaining the situation:

Extreme Heat in the Oceans Is Out of Control | WIRED

Here’s an excerpt:

“Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium began their calculation by analyzing surface temperature data from 1870 to 1919, sampled from across the globe. (Yes, ships have been taking the ocean’s temperature for 150 years.) Once they knew the historical high temperatures for each month in different parts of the ocean, they had a baseline for marine temperature extremes before the escalation of climate change. In the 19th century, only 2 percent of the ocean surface experienced such extremes.

Then they compared this data to readings in the same places taken from 1920 to 2019. Their results show that by the year 2014, half of the ocean surface was logging temperatures once considered extreme—exceeding those historical highs. By 2019, that figure was 57 percent. In 150 years, the occurrence of extreme heat had become the new normal. “