The scale of warming in the ocean, which covers around 70% of the
planet, is “truly staggering”, the report states. The upper few metres
of ocean have warmed by around 0.13C a decade since the start of the
20th century, with a 1-4C increase in global ocean warming by the end of
this century.The ocean has absorbed more than 90% of the extra heat created by
human activity. If the same amount of heat that has been buried in the
upper 2km of the ocean had gone into the atmosphere, the surface of the
Earth would have warmed by a devastating 36C, rather than 1C, over the
past century.At some point, the report says, warming waters could unlock billions
of tonnes of frozen methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from the seabed
and cook the surface of the planet. This could occur even if emissions
are drastically cut, due to the lag time between emitting greenhouse
gases and their visible consequences.
Soaring ocean temperature is ‘greatest hidden challenge of our generation’
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