climate change tagged posts

Fuelled by climate change, the world’s oceans have broken temperature records every single day over the past year, a BBC analysis finds. Nearly 50 days have smashed existing highs for the time of year by the largest margin in the satellite era. Planet-warming gases are mostly to blame, but the natural weather event El Niño has also helped warm the seas.

The super-heated oceans have hit marine life hard and driven a new wave of coral bleaching.

The analysis is based on data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Service.

Copernicus also confirmed that last month was the warmest April on record in terms of global air temperatures, extending that sequence of month-specific records to 11 in a row.

For many decades, the world’s oceans have been the Earth’s ‘get-out-of-jail card’ when i...

Inside the bodies of humpback whales are clues about how climate change is transforming Antarctica. Our BBC science team crossed the Southern Ocean, with the researchers, on a mission to follow and study the giant whales of this remote, frozen wilderness. At 03:00 in the morning there is an almighty crash. Every drawer in our cabin is flung open and contents hurled against the wall. We hit a 12-metre wave.

I’m not a seafarer; this is alarming, but apparently not unusual on the Drake Passage – the stretch of the notoriously rough Southern Ocean we are on. We’re aboard a 200-passenger tourist ship, with a team of wildlife scientists, on our way to the Antarctic Peninsula.

One of the researcher...

Fuelled by climate change, the world’s oceans have broken temperature records every single day over the past year, a BBC analysis finds. Nearly 50 days have smashed existing highs for the time of year by the largest margin in the satellite era. Planet-warming gasses are mostly to blame, but the natural weather event El Niño has also helped warm the seas. The super-heated oceans have hit marine life hard and driven a new wave of coral bleaching. The analysis is based on data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Service.

Copernicus also confirmed that last month was the warmest April on record in terms of air temperatures, extending that sequence of month-specific records to 11 in a row.

For many decades, the world’s oceans have been the Earth’s ‘get-out-of-jail card’ when it comes to c...

The world is not doing enough to protect coral reefs, the United Nations’ special envoy for the ocean said last week, in defence of the marine ecosystems that protect biodiversity, sustain underwater life, and produce some of the oxygen we breathe. In an interview with The Associated Press on the sidelines of an international ocean conference in Greece, Peter Thomson suggested that all significant coral reefs should be included in marine protected areas under what is known as the “30×30” initiative, a plan to designate 30% of the world’s land and ocean areas as protected areas by 2030.

Top reef scientists announced last week that coral reefs are experiencing global bleaching for the fourth time—and the second time in just 10 years—as a result of warming oceans amid human-...

The circulation of the Atlantic Ocean is heading towards a tipping point that is “bad news for the climate system and humanity”, a study has found. The scientists behind the research said they were shocked at the forecast speed of collapse once the point is reached, although they said it was not yet possible to predict how soon that would happen. Using computer models and past data, the researchers developed an early warning indicator for the breakdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc), a vast system of ocean currents that is a key component in global climate regulation.

They found Amoc is already on track towards an abrupt shift, which has not happened for more than 10,000 years and would have dire implications for large parts of the world.

Amoc, which e...

Java Stingarees are the first marine fish to be declared extinct as a result of human activity. This troubling news was released with the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) latest update of its Red List of Threatened Species last week, along with reports of escalating climate impacts on freshwater fishes presented at COP28. A shocking quarter of all known freshwater fish species are currently at risk of extinction, with 20 percent impacted directly by climate change.

“Freshwater fishes make up more than half of the world’s known fish species, an incomprehensible diversity given that freshwater ecosystems comprise only 1 percent of aquatic habitat,” says Kathy Hughes, Co-Chair of the IUCN SSC Freshwater Fish Specialist Group.

“These diverse species are integral ...

The world’s oceans, covering an expansive 70% of our planet’s surface, are a lifeline for humanity and a cornerstone of Earth’s health. They are not just vast bodies of water; they are dynamic systems that regulate our climate, provide livelihoods for millions, and are home to a diverse array of marine life. In contemporary times, these critical ecosystems are under siege. Human activities, ranging from pollution to overfishing, are posing serious threats to their health and sustainability.

The benefits of oceans for humanity is as important as its very existence. Oceans absorb about 30% of carbon dioxide produced by humans, buffering the impacts of global warming...

The number of jellyfish spotted in UK waters and on beaches increased by 32% in the past year, according to a survey by the Marine Conservation Society. The most commonly spotted were the huge barrel jellyfish – but rarer warm-water crystal jellyfish were also seen. Jellyfish populations vary naturally over time – but climate change warming the UK seas is creating favourable conditions.

A marine heatwave in June increased UK water temperatures by about 3-4C.

The world has warmed 1.1C compared to the pre-industrial period before humans began burning fossil fuels and a series of broken records this year is alarming scientists.

In August, oceans hit their highest global average temperature on record.

The Marine Conservation Society’s annual wildlife-sightings report is based on...

I am the founder and Director of Earthdive. 37 years ago I founded and organised a charity event called Sport Aid. 19.8 million people took part in 274 cities and 89 countries and delivered a ‘petition of blistered feet’ to the doorstep of the United Nations in New York. They demanded help for victims of the African Famine – and they got it! They raised US$35 million on the day and at a UN Special Session on Africa that followed, US$150m of African debt was cancelled.

It taught me that together, we can help change the world and now I need your help to unite the world again, this time to save our planet.

As a scuba diver I have witnessed the devastating effects climate change has had on our oceans...

The factors affecting coral’s resilience—its ability to adapt to and survive environmental changes—seem to be more nuanced than scientists believed. In a study published Oct. 17 in the journal Global Change Biology, researchers reveal surprising findings about a species common to Caribbean waters. The discovery may help improve efforts to save corals from bleaching and other consequences of climate change.

A team led by Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Carly Kenkel at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences studied the mountainous star coral, Orbicella faveolata, to determine whether coral populations that have survived higher temperatures can pass their heat tolerance on to their offspring.

To the scientists’ surprise, the results showed the opposite: T...