Democracy Dies in Darkness
Capital Weather Gang

Ocean warmth sets record high in 2021 as a result of greenhouse gas emissions

Since the late 1980s, Earth’s oceans warmed at a rate eight times faster than in the preceding decades

By
January 11, 2022 at 8:48 a.m. EST
Rising Atlantic Ocean waters erode land near the town of Muanda in the Democratic Republic of Congo. (Alexis Huguet/AFP/Getty Images)

The warmth of the world’s oceans hit a record. Again.

A new analysis, published Tuesday in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, showed that oceans contained the most heat energy in 2021 since measurements began six decades ago — accelerating at a rate only possible because of human-emitted greenhouse gases.

Since the late 1980s, Earth’s oceans warmed at a rate eight times faster than in the preceding decades.