The Atlantic Ocean is at its hottest

Although we are currently concerned about the COVID-19 health crisis, the reality is that there are other equally important issues that we must look at. For example, global warming. 

However, that is not the only problem. In reality, the oceans are also being seriously affected, particularly the Atlantic. From Xataka they warn that its average temperature has just experienced the "hottest decade in at least 2,900 years", as a result of climate changes.

In other words, we are talking about a problem not only in terms of temperature, but also of climatic conditions. A higher temperature rise, for example, causes a greater number of hurricanes. Let's see what is happening to the heat in the oceans.

The ocean temperature problem

The high temperature of the oceans is a warning sign for the planet. El Confidencial said in 2019 that that year had the highest temperature recorded in history. A study prepared by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of China (IAP) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (United States) was the one that revealed this information.

Basically, the oceans absorb more than 90 percent of the excess heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions, and this results in an increase in temperature due to global warming. This excessively warm temperature causes a notable rise in sea level and considerable damage to marine life.

According to the specialized website of Ambientum, the global temperature of the ocean had been 0.075 degrees higher than the average recorded between 1981-2010. To reach that temperature, the oceans had to accumulate heat (energy) equivalent to 228 zetajoules, equivalent to 3.6 billion Hiroshima atomic bomb explosions.

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From Geo Innova, global warming is defined as the emission into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, which have a great impact on the oceans, and which leads to an increase in temperature that causes increases in sea level. 

This causes, according to National Geographic, some changes in terms of structures. For example, increased heat is causing the huge ice sheets that line Greenland and Antarctica to melt at a rapid rate. Thus, there is a rise in sea level, causing devastating consequences for humans and species.

However, there is something relatively "good" in all this. In Notimérica they agree when saying that, as the oceans absorb a large part of the world's heat, this situation can serve to better learn the fluctuations in temperature of the atmosphere. Thus, strategies should be implemented to prevent this problem from continuing to spread.

In the current case, which is the warming of the North Atlantic Ocean, it could imply an increase in local rains, as reported by Meteored. It's all based on the North Atlantic Warming Hole, a robust feature that has been observed in the region's temperature trends over the last century.

Despite the fact that there may be natural factors that drive this process, researchers from the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) conclude that it cannot be separated from climate change. Therefore, it is a situation that we must take into account to avoid further damage in the future.