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Scientists have found heat waves at the bottom of the oceans, and this is extremely bad news

TiranaPost
2023-03-26 14:02:13 TiranaPost

Scientists have found heat waves at the bottom of the oceans, and this is

The Blob – not the carnivorous amoeboid alien antagonist from a 1950s sci-fi story, but something much more sinister – grabbed headlines between 2013 and 2016 as an extremely destructive marine heat wave in the northeast Pacific. As waters off the US west coast warmed, ecosystems were upended, coral reefs bleached massively, and over a million birds were found dead across North America.

Now, new studies suggest that may have only been the tip of the iceberg. Not only have scientists at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, found evidence of marine heat waves on the ocean floor, but it appears that these deeper versions have a more disturbing effect than their previously recorded counterparts such as The Blob: they last longer, can cause more drastic heating, and sometimes occur with little or no evidence of surface heating.

Këto ndikime kanë potencialin të jenë katastrofike – si për ekosistemet detare, ashtu edhe për industritë që mbështeten në to. Ndërsa oqeanet e botës mund të mos jenë ato që na vijnë në mendje kur marrim parasysh viktimat më të prekura të ngrohjes globale, ata në fakt janë përgjegjës për thithjen e rreth 90 për qind të nxehtësisë së tepërt të gjeneruar nga emetimet e karbonit të prodhuar nga njeriu.

Si i tillë, oqeani po ngrohet më shpejt se mesatarja e planetit, duke u rritur në temperaturë me rreth 1.5°C gjatë shekullit të kaluar – me valët e të nxehtit detar 50 për qind më të shpeshta vetëm në dekadën e fundit.

And with financial losses due to The Blob alone reaching around $200 million by some estimates, it's no wonder there's been a lot of interest in monitoring marine heat waves in recent years – despite the purely ecological concern – but this it is the first time that scientists have managed to go that deep.

It is now clear that we need to pay more attention to the bottom of the ocean, where some of the most valuable species live and can experience heat waves quite different from those at the surface. / bota.al