Climate change continues to be a major cause of concern around the globe. The phenomenon seems to be affecting almost everything, including the oceans. The world’s oceans grew to their warmest and most acidic levels on record last year, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
In its annual “State of the Global Climate” report, the WMO has detailed a range of disturbances triggered by climate change, including the melting ice sheets that pushed sea levels to new heights last year. WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas in a statement expressed concern over the warming of the planet because of the heat trapped by human-induced greenhouse gases.
The UN climate assessment has also underscored the danger from greenhouse gases. It has warned that if the world does not drastically cut its greenhouse gas emissions, its climate will see catastrophic changes with increasing frequency.
There is also concern over the impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on the environment-related commitments of countries. Some of them have been criticized for reneging on their commitments in this field due to the conflict. The war has also pushed up energy prices and prompted European nations to seek to replace Russia as an energy supplier.
The WMO report said the levels of climate-warming carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere in 2021 surpassed previous records. Globally, the average temperature last year was 1.11 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial average as the world edged closer to the 1.5C threshold beyond which the effects of warming are expected to become drastic.
As it is, oceans bear the brunt of the warming and emissions. Water bodies absorb around 90% of the Earth’s accumulated heat and 23% of the carbon dioxide emissions from human activity. Oceans have warmed markedly faster in the last 20 years, hitting a new high in 2021, and are expected to become even warmer, the WMO report said, adding that this change would likely take centuries or millennia to reverse.
While oceans are now at their most acidic in at least 26,000 years as they absorb and react with more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the sea level has risen 4.5 cm (1.8 inches) in the last decade, with the annual increase from 2013 to 2021 more than double of what it was from 1993 to 2002.
Scientists in Odisha have been watching the turbulent behaviour of sea waves with mounting anxiety. Increased wave energy has added to the ferocity of the sea in many coastal areas of the state, with parts of Kendrapara, Ganjam and Puri bearing its brunt. At several places along the coast in these districts, the sea has been eating into the landmass, thus threatening human settlements. The severe damage caused by the waves at Pentha village in Kendrapara has been sought to be contained with a geo-tube wall as part of a World Bank-aided project. But even as governments around the world evolve strategies to fight sea erosion and other kinds of damage caused by turbulent oceans, it is time they joined hands to minimize carbon emissions and other factors that contribute to climate change.
Comment here