{"id":40168,"date":"2024-03-19T12:02:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T06:32:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=40168"},"modified":"2025-04-24T23:44:07","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T18:14:07","slug":"ocean-warming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/ocean-warming\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean Warming"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Why in news?<\/h2>\n<p>The average global sea surface temperature (SST) for February 2024 stood at 21.06 degree Celsius. This is the highest recorded temperature in a dataset that goes back to 1979. The previous record of 20.98 degree Celsius was set in August 2023.<\/p>\n<h2>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in news?<\/li>\n<li>Why are the oceans getting warmer?<\/li>\n<li>Why are rising sea surface temperatures a cause of worry?<\/li>\n<li>Conclusion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why are the oceans getting warmer?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Greenhouse Gas(GHG) Emissions\n<ul>\n<li>Since the Industrial Revolution, human activities such as burning fossil fuels have released high levels of GHGs in the atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li>Carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and nitrous oxide are some of the notable GHGs, which essentially trap heat in the atmosphere and contribute to global warming.<\/li>\n<li>As a result, the average global temperature has risen at least 1.2 degree Celsius above pre-industrial times.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Heat Absorption\n<ul>\n<li>Almost 90 per cent of the extra heat trapped by GHGs has been absorbed by the oceans, making them steadily warmer over the decades.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Deforestation\n<ul>\n<li>Deforestation reduces the number of trees available to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere. This leads to higher concentrations of GHGs, contributing to global warming and consequently, ocean warming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Melting Ice\n<ul>\n<li>As global temperatures rise, polar ice caps and glaciers melt, adding freshwater to the oceans.<\/li>\n<li>This influx of freshwater can disrupt ocean currents and contribute to changes in temperature and salinity, further affecting ocean warming.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Impact of El Ni\u00f1o\n<ul>\n<li>El Ni\u00f1o is a weather pattern that refers to an abnormal warming of surface waters in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.<\/li>\n<li>It has contributed to both ocean warming and rising global surface temperatures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Less dust blowing off the Sahara Desert recently due to weaker-than-average winds.\n<ul>\n<li>Typically, the dust forms a giant umbrella that shades the Atlantic water and reduces ocean temperatures.<\/li>\n<li>But now, the umbrella has partially folded and more of the Sun is beating down on the ocean.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Natural Variability\n<ul>\n<li>While human activities are the primary driver of recent ocean warming, natural factors such as volcanic eruptions, changes in solar radiation, and ocean currents also play a role in short-term variations in ocean temperature.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Why are rising sea surface temperatures a cause of worry?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Irreversible consequences for marine ecosystems\n<ul>\n<li>Warmer oceans lead to increased ocean stratification, where water separates into layers based on density.<\/li>\n<li>Warmer, lighter, less salty, and nutrient-poor water sits atop colder, saltier, and nutrient-rich water.<\/li>\n<li>Normally, ocean processes like currents, wind, and tides mix these layers, but stratification disrupts this.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Threat to marine life\n<ul>\n<li>The rise in temperatures, however, has made it harder for water layers to mix with each other.<\/li>\n<li>Due to this, oxygen absorbed isn\u2019t able to mix properly with cooler ocean waters below, threatening the survival of marine life.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Impact on Phytoplankton\n<ul>\n<li>Nutrients are also not able to travel up to the surface of the oceans from below. This could threaten the population of phytoplankton.\n<ul>\n<li>Phytoplanktons are single-celled plants that thrive on the ocean surface and are the base of several marine food webs.<\/li>\n<li>Phytoplanktons are eaten by zooplankton, which are consumed by other marine animals such as crabs, fish, and sea stars.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Therefore, if the phytoplankton population plummets, there could be a collapse of marine ecosystems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Coral Bleaching\n<ul>\n<li>Corals are highly sensitive to changes in SSTs. When waters become too warm, corals expel the algae living in their tissues, causing them to turn white or bleach.<\/li>\n<li>Bleached corals are stressed and more susceptible to disease and death.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Ocean Acidification\n<ul>\n<li>Warmer SSTs can exacerbate ocean acidification, a process driven by the absorption of CO2 from the atmosphere.<\/li>\n<li>Increased CO2 levels lower the pH of seawater, making it more acidic.<\/li>\n<li>This acidification can harm marine organisms with calcium carbonate shells or skeletons, such as shellfish, corals, and some planktonic species, impacting entire marine food webs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Extreme Weather Events\n<ul>\n<li>Warm ocean waters provide the energy needed to fuel tropical storms and hurricanes.<\/li>\n<li>Rising SSTs can lead to more intense storms, with higher wind speeds &amp; heavier rainfall posing risks to coastal communities, infrastructure, and economies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Sea Level Rise\n<ul>\n<li>Warm water expands, contributing to thermal expansion of the oceans, which is a significant driver of global sea level rise.<\/li>\n<li>Threatening coastal communities with more frequent and severe flooding, erosion, and saltwater intrusion into freshwater sources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Impacts on Climate Patterns\n<ul>\n<li>Changes in SSTs can influence atmospheric circulation patterns, such as the formation of weather systems like El Ni\u00f1o and La Ni\u00f1a.<\/li>\n<li>These climate phenomena can have widespread effects on weather patterns, precipitation, and temperature extremes around the globe, affecting agriculture, water resources, and ecosystems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Addressing the root causes of rising SSTs, primarily anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, is crucial to mitigating these impacts and protecting both marine and human well-being.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Q1)\u00a0What are Phytoplankton?<\/h3>\n<p>Phytoplankton are microscopic, single-celled organisms that live in water and perform photosynthesis. They are a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems.<\/p>\n<h3>Q2) What is Sahara Desert?<\/h3>\n<p>The Sahara Desert is the world&#8217;s largest hot desert, covering 9,200,000 square kilometers across North Africa. It&#8217;s the third-largest desert overall, after Antarctica and the Arctic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sea Surface Temperature (SST) is the temperature of the water at the ocean surface.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":40169,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-40168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}