The temperature of the oceans increased for the sixth consecutive year, registering historical maximums in 2021 due to climate change, according to an international study that brings together institutions from Italy, the United States and China.
The research, published in the journal ‘Advances in Atmospheric Sciences’, highlighted that this situation is "even more alarming in the Mediterranean Sea", where temperatures increase faster.
The study "Another record: the warming of the oceans continues in 2021 despite the La Niña climate phenomenon" It has been carried out by researchers from fourteen institutions, mostly from China and the United States, but also from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) and the National Agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development (Enea) of Italy.
The results showed that the variations in the thermal content during the past year were equivalent to the energy that would be obtained if seven atomic bombs were exploded every second for a whole year.
This new temperature record happened despite the meteorological phenomenon known as La Niña, which helps limit the warming of the Pacific Ocean.
The increase in temperatures is a serious problem because "reduces the efficiency of CO2 absorption by the ocean, leaving a higher percentage in the atmosphere", explained the researcher and one of the authors of the study Simona Simoncelli, from the INGV, in a statement.
The research pointed to other consequences such as changes in maritime ecosystems and the rise in sea level due to the melting of glaciers, which seriously affects Pacific islands and coastal populations.
Likewise, the rise in sea temperatures causes more serious meteorological effects such as the extreme heat that southern Europe experienced in August or the hurricanes in the Mediterranean at the end of November, Simoncelli pointed out.
"The control of the evolution of the thermal components in relation to CO2 in the oceans is very important to achieve a mitigation plan to limit the effects of climate change.", argued the Italian researcher.
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