Ocean Warming is Accelerating Faster Than Thought, New Research Finds

Scientists say the warming of the world's oceans is accelerating more quickly than previously thought, a finding with dire implications for climate change given that almost all of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases ends up stored there. From a report: A new analysis, published Thursday in the journal Science, found that the oceans are heating up 40 percent faster on average than a United Nations panel estimated five years ago. The researchers also concluded that ocean temperatures have broken records for several straight years. '2018 is going to be the warmest year on record for the Earth's oceans,' said Zeke Hausfather, an energy systems analyst at the independent climate research group Berkeley Earth and an author of the study. 'As 2017 was the warmest year, and 2016 was the warmest year.'

As the planet has warmed, the oceans have provided a critical buffer, slowing the effects of climate change by absorbing 93 percent of the heat trapped by human greenhouse gas emissions. But the escalating water temperatures are already killing off marine ecosystems, raising sea levels and making hurricanes more destructive.

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