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Overview of climatic changes and their effects on the ocean. Regional effects are displayed in italics. [1] This NASA animation conveys Earth's oceanic processes as a driving force among Earth's interrelated systems. There are many effects of climate change on oceans. One of the most important is an increase in ocean temperatures.
Ocean temperature and dissolved oxygen concentrations have a big influence on many aspects of the ocean. These two key parameters affect the ocean's primary productivity, the oceanic carbon cycle, nutrient cycles, and marine ecosystems. [12] They work in conjunction with salinity and density to control a range of processes. These include mixing ...
The 2019 IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate defines a tipping point as: "A level of change in system properties beyond which a system reorganises, often in a non-linear manner, and does not return to the initial state even if the drivers of the change are abated. For the climate system, the term refers to a ...
[49] [50] Scientists realized over 30 years ago the ocean was a key fingerprint of human impact on climate change and "the best opportunity for major improvement in our understanding of climate sensitivity is probably monitoring of internal ocean temperature". [51] Marine organisms are moving to cooler parts of the ocean as global warming proceeds.
A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a distinct layer based on temperature within a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) with a high gradient of distinct temperature differences associated with depth.
The ocean heat content (OHC) has been increasing for decades as the ocean has been absorbing most of the excess heat resulting from greenhouse gas emissions from human activities. [1] The graph shows OHC calculated to a water depth of 700 and to 2000 meters. Ocean heat content (OHC) or ocean heat uptake (OHU) is the energy absorbed and stored ...
The Southern Ocean absorbs the most heat; after 2005, it accounted for between 67% and 98% of all heat entering the oceans. [27] The temperature in the ocean's upper layer in West Antarctica has warmed by 1 °C (1.8 °F) since 1955, and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is also warming faster than the average. [3]
Some climate change effects: wildfire caused by heat and dryness, bleached coral caused by ocean acidification and heating, environmental migration caused by desertification, and coastal flooding caused by storms and sea level rise. Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an overall ...