A minute to understand the Warming of the Seas and Oceans

As record-breaking ocean surface temperatures continue to be recorded, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms at play. This comprehensive report explores why our oceans absorb more than 90% of the excess heat generated by human activities, and what the direct consequences of this accumulation are. Discover how this warming is altering ocean currents, causing sea levels to rise, and destabilizing essential ecosystems. This insight is essential for understanding the major climate challenges of our century and the urgent need for action.

Summary of Key Points on Ocean Warming

      - Massive Energy Absorption: The ocean acts as a thermal regulator by absorbing more than 90% of the excess heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions linked to human activities.

      - Physical consequences: This warming causes thermal expansion of the water, contributing significantly to sea-level rise, and alters the stratification of water masses.

      - Ecosystem disruptions: Rising temperatures severely disrupt marine biodiversity, causing species to migrate, leading to increased mortality rates, and causing coral bleaching.

      - Increased risks: This phenomenon contributes to a rise in extreme events, such as marine heatwaves, and impairs the ocean’s ability to absorb carbon, thereby exacerbating climate change.

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      - Marine heatwaves: Extreme temperature increases that cause massive die-offs of marine flora and fauna, threatening biodiversity and coastal resources. Vagues de chaleur marines

      - Ocean acidification: The absorption of CO2 makes the water more acidic, preventing corals and shellfish from building their skeletons, which weakens the entire food chain. Acidification des océans

      - Ocean deoxygenation: Warming depletes the ocean of oxygen, creating suffocating zones where marine life struggles to survive and reproduce. Désoxygénation des océans

      - Eutrophication: Discharges of fertilizers and wastewater cause algal blooms that deplete the water of oxygen, creating destructive “dead zones.” Eutrophisation

      - Plastic pollution: Plastics do not disappear; they break down into microplastics that are ingested by wildlife, contaminating the entire marine food chain all the way up to us. Pollution plastique

      - AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation): This major climate driver regulates our climate; its slowdown, caused by climate change, could disrupt ecosystems and global weather patterns. Atlantic Méridional Overturning Circulation