Global warming and solar energy

It isn’t just the recent reports of fatalities due to excessive heat. The Earth's temperature is rising, and it isn't just in the air around us. Scientists report that more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gas emissions has been absorbed into our oceans. Those oceans cover two-thirds of the planet's surface. The ocean ’s temperature is rising, too, and it tells a story of how humans are changing the planet in a negative way.

This accrued heat is "really the memory of past climate change," said Kevin Trenberth, the head of climate analysis at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and co-author of a new paper on ocean warming. The total amount of warming on our planet is significant but it's also the pace of the warming that alarms scientists. The rate at which the oceans are heating up has nearly doubled since 1992, and that heat is reaching gradually deeper waters, according to a recent study. Meanwhile, concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere have been rising.

Climate scientists agree on global warming

Climate scientists report that the accumulation of heat in the oceans is the strongest evidence of how fast Earth is warming. This is due to heat-trapping gases released by the burning of fossil fuels. Oceans have an enormous capacity to retain heat. So ocean temperatures, unlike temperatures on land, are slow to fluctuate from natural forces, such as El Niño/La Niña patterns or volcanic eruptions. As night falls on land, so do air temperatures. But in the oceans, temperatures vary little. This makes it easier to evaluate the influence of human-caused climate change from other possible causes of increasing ocean heat. According to research by Trenberth and Lijing Cheng, of the Institute for Atmospheric Physics in Beijing, the heat storage in the oceans during 2015 and 2016 amounted to a stunning force: an increase of 30.4 X 1022 joules of energy roiling Earth's systems since 1960. The overload is helping throw off Earth's energy balance, needed for the climate to be relatively stable. Put another way: The excess energy amassed in the oceans since 1992 is roughly equivalent to 2,000 times U.S. electricity generation during the past decade, the researchers explained.

Ocean temperatures rising

Ocean temperatures have been rising about 0.12 degrees Celsius per decade on average over the past 50 years. The higher temperatures are driving marine life toward the poles in search of livable habitats, bleaching coral reefs, and causing severe impacts on fisheries and aquacultures. They also contribute to more frequent and intense extreme weather events. In the three back-to-back deadly hurricanes of 2017—Harvey, Irma, and Maria—warmer waters played a role in worsening the storms.

What steps can I take to lessen my carbon footprint?

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