HONG KONG (Reuters) – Deep ocean heat waves may be “significantly underreported”, highlighting an area of ocean warming that has been largely ignored, a study by Australia’s national scientific organization (CISRO) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found. .
The study, published Thursday in the scientific journal Nature, found that 80% of ocean heat waves below 100 meters are independent of external events.
It said the researchers used observational data from more than two million ocean temperature profiles in the world’s oceans.
“These findings deepen our understanding of the frequency and intensity of subsea overheating events and their potential impacts,” said CISRO’s Ming Feng.
Ocean heat waves are long-term heat events that can cause significant damage to marine ecosystems, such as impacts on coral reefs and displacement of species, the study says.
These incidents are becoming more common due to global warming, which is causing “catastrophic environmental and socio-economic impacts,” he said.
Most of the previous research on ocean heat waves has focused on surface signals based on widely available satellite observations of sea water temperature.
The discovery of distinct, deep warming was particularly worrisome, the study found, because it affects many creatures’ habitats and what they eat.
“Extremely hot subsea heat events are of great concern to the environment because they affect the habitat of many marine producers and consumers,” the statement said.
The study also highlighted the impact of ocean currents, especially eddies, on ocean heat waves, indicating that they are the main drivers of subsurface events, CISRO said.
Ocean eddies can affect acidification, oxygen levels and nutrient concentrations in the ocean.
Understanding the drivers of subsurface ocean heat waves such as eddies will help improve the assessment of these events in the tropical climate and help predict the future, it said.
(Reporting by Farah Master and the Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Barbara Lewis)
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