Global sea surface temperatures have been breaking records every day for the past 12 months, causing concern among marine scientists.
Senior research scientist Brian McNoldy from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School expressed worry about the unprecedented margins by which the records are being broken. He mentioned that the current average sea surface temperatures are approximately 1.25 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than they were from 1982 to 2011, as per the University of Maine’s climate reanalyzer, which could have significant impacts on the climate and ecosystem.
While human-induced climate change is considered a contributing factor, there are likely other natural climate processes at play as well. The rise in sea surface temperatures has puzzled scientists as they are unsure of the exact reasons behind it.
The warming ocean temperatures could lead to coral bleaching, stronger hurricanes, warmer coastal temperatures, and more extreme precipitation. Researchers have observed these effects in 2023, and they fear that if the trend continues, it could have severe consequences.
Some potential factors influencing the rise in sea surface temperatures include weakening trade winds in the North Atlantic and changes in shipping regulations limiting sulfur pollution, amongst others. Researchers are trying to understand the complex interplay of these factors leading to such unprecedented temperature increases.
The warmer ocean temperatures could fuel more powerful storms and hurricanes, putting coastal areas at risk. The Atlantic Ocean and the Horn of Africa, known for producing hurricanes hitting the East Coast of the United States, are experiencing significant anomalies in sea surface temperatures.
Overall, the rising sea surface temperatures pose a serious threat to marine ecosystems and climate stability. Scientists are working to unravel the mystery behind this phenomenon to better predict and mitigate its impacts.
In the Pacoima neighborhood of Los Angeles, Jose Damian, a street vendor for the past five years, braves temperatures of up to 105 degrees while selling Mexican snacks and shaved ice under the scorching midday sun. He recently experienced heat-related health issues when he felt dizzy and sweaty on his way to Sarah Coughlin Elementary School, prompting him to seek medical attention after losing all the salt in his body.
Residents in Pacoima have long endured extreme heat, with some taking multiple showers a day and struggling to stay cool due to the lack of trees and expensive air conditioning. The neighborhood holds the unfortunate title of being the hottest in Los Angeles and is disproportionately affected by heat-related illnesses, particularly in low-income communities of color like Pacoima.
A recent study shows that areas with a large Latino population, such as Pacoima, are significantly warmer than others in Los Angeles County. This disparity in temperature is exacerbated by the lack of tree canopies and green spaces in the neighborhood, further contributing to the heat island effect.
To combat the extreme heat, community organizations and local officials have joined forces to implement a cooling plan for Pacoima. Initiatives like the “Cool Pavement” project, in partnership with roofing manufacturer GAF, aim to reduce heat absorption in the neighborhood by repaving city blocks with solar reflective coating. This multi-year project not only helps cool the area but also adds vibrant murals and colored pavers to brighten up the community.
A map showing the expected surface temperature anomalies in 2024 if a strong El Niño event occurs.Blue dots indicate areas where record heat is expected
Ning Jiang et al., Scientific Reports
Climate models predict this year will be the hottest 12 months on record as El Niño conditions persist in the Caribbean, Bay of Bengal, South China Sea, Alaska and parts of the Amazon.
“These are places where the risk of extreme events is increased, and these extreme events are really harmful,” team members say. michael mcfaden NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory, Seattle, Washington.
“They negatively impact human health and increase the risk of wildfires. And in the ocean, they increase the risk of marine heatwaves, damaging marine ecosystems, fisheries and corals,” he said. Masu.
Earth’s surface temperatures are currently at record highs in many parts of the world. The main reason is global warming caused by carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels. However, in addition to this, the strong El Niño phenomenon that started in mid-2023 is causing temperatures to rise further.
When an El Niño event occurs, warm water spreads across the surface of the Pacific Ocean toward South America. This vast area of warm water transfers large amounts of ocean heat to the atmosphere, causing an increase in surface temperature.
The reverse phase, known as La Niña, reverses this process. Cold water spreads over the surface of the Pacific Ocean away from South America, absorbing heat from the atmosphere and lowering the surface temperature.
This means that the Earth’s average surface temperature typically reaches record levels during El Niño periods and then drops during La Niña periods.
McFadden and his colleagues used a computer model that took into account aerosol pollution and volcanic eruptions in addition to El Niño to try to predict where in the world record heat would occur. Their regional forecast is the average surface temperature for the period from July 2023 to June 2024.
“Even if it’s not exactly timed to a specific season, there’s real value in having this kind of warning,” McFayden says. “It gives us a grace period to prepare how best to protect life, property, marine resources and economic development.”
The research team considered two scenarios: a strong El Niño and a milder El Niño. It’s now clear that a strong El Niño is occurring, and in fact, it’s likely to be in the top five strongest El Niños since 1950, McFadden said.
In this strong El Niño scenario, the research team predicts that the global average surface temperature from July 2023 to June 2024 would be 1.1°C to 1.2°C warmer than the 1951-1980 average. Masu.
this is Equivalent to a temperature above 1.4-1.5 °C average from 1850 to 1900, new scientist This is considered a pre-industrial benchmark. This suggests that the model is underestimating the temperature since it is already above this level. From January 2023 to January 2024, the Earth’s average surface temperature was more than 1.5 °C above the 1850-1900 average, and in January 2024 it was 1.7 °C above this level.
Temperature records have already been broken during El Niño, especially in the tropics, he said. maximiliano herrera, an independent climatologist who tracks extreme temperatures. “This is amazing,” he says. “We are experiencing record heat and it is inevitable.”
Melting ice in Greenland could worsen extreme weather across Europe
REDA & CO srl/Alamy
Europe's 10 hottest and driest summers in the past 40 years have all come after a particularly large amount of fresh water was released from the Greenland ice sheet, meaning southern Europe will experience an especially hot summer this year. Maybe you are doing it.
They say this link occurs because the excess meltwater triggers a series of amplifying feedbacks that affect the strength and position of the atmospheric jet stream over Europe. Marilena Ortmans At the UK National Marine Centre.
“2018 and 2022 were the most recent examples,” she says. 2022 saw extreme heat and numerous bushfires across Europe, with high temperatures reaching 40°C (104°F) in parts of the UK for the first time.
These feedback effects, on top of the underlying warming trend from fossil fuel emissions, mean Europe will become even hotter and drier in coming decades as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet accelerates. Then Mr. Ortmans says:
“This is on top of the warming that is already happening due to increases in greenhouse gases,” she says.
Hotter heat waves and drier droughts are expected as the planet warms, but in some regions, such as Europe, recent heat waves and droughts have been even more extreme than climate modeling projects. Several studies have linked these extreme events to changes in the strength and position of the Arctic jet stream. The Arctic jet stream is a band of upper-level winds whose location and strength have a significant impact on weather.
But it's not clear what causes these changes, Ortmans says. Now, she and her colleagues are analyzing weather observations from the past 40 years, and the results show that extreme weather is ultimately the result of a period of increased ice melt in Greenland. It is said that there is.
“Observational statistical associations are very powerful,” she says.
The excess meltwater leads to a shallow layer of freshwater that extends south of the North Atlantic Ocean. This layer does not easily mix with the warm, salty ocean water below, causing the ocean surface to be colder than normal in winter.
This makes the gradient between this colder water and warmer water further south even more extreme, strengthening the weather front aloft. As a result, wind patterns strengthen, pushing warm water flowing northward, the North Atlantic Current, further north than usual. This further amplifies the temperature gradient.
“The front that forms between an area of cold fresh water and an area of warm ocean water is the main source of energy for storms,” she says.
Now, Oltmans' team suggests that these winter changes have lasting effects into the following summer. “Two years after the freshwater anomaly occurred, we are still seeing significant signs,” she says.
The researchers found that stronger temperature gradients lead to stronger jet streams across Europe, making the weather in southern Europe even hotter and drier. Then, as the unusually cold water recedes, the jet stream moves north, bringing hot, dry weather to northern Europe.
“We have discussed the individual links in this feedback chain before,” Ortmans says. “What we did in this study is bring these links together.”
Computer models miss this chain of feedback because they don't include factors such as large fluctuations in meltwater from year to year, she says.
“The association between Atlantic freshwater anomalies and subsequent European summer weather proposed in this study is interesting and relevant to current scientific research on long-term predictions of summer weather, especially “If that relationship holds true for future summers,” he says. adam scaife He works on long-term forecasts at the UK Met Office.
“I think this study is somewhat convincing,” he says. Fei Luo At the Singapore Climate Research Center. But when it comes to predicting summer weather, looking at the previous year's snowmelt isn't as helpful as looking at winter weather conditions, Luo said.
But Oltmans is confident enough to predict that Europe will experience more heatwaves and droughts in the coming years as Greenland's ice melts further in the summer of 2023. “I think southern Europe will experience strong heat anomalies this summer,” she says.
These are likely to become even more powerful in 2025, after which they will begin to impact Northern Europe. “We expect Northern Europe to experience another strong heatwave and drought, not this year, but in the next few years.”
A quoll searches for termites in a fallen log.Poor night vision is also part of the reason they have to forage for food in the heat of the day.
kristin cooper
As Australia's temperatures continue to get hotter, the specialized fur that possums evolved to save energy is now putting them at risk of overheating.
possum (Myrmecobius fasciatus) is an unusual marsupial in that it is active during the day, feeding on termites hidden under tree logs and topsoil. Because these insects are low-calorie foods, possums, which typically weigh about 500 grams, have evolved fur that absorbs heat from the sun, saving calories spent on generating body heat.
As temperatures rise, that evolutionary trait can backfire, causing possums to overheat within minutes of feeding in direct sunlight. kristin cooper at Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
Quolls once roamed southern Australia, but over the past two centuries they have fallen prey to cats and foxes introduced by European settlers. Currently, these endangered animals are concentrated in just two small nature reserves in Western Australia.
To increase their numbers, conservation groups are gradually moving the marsupials to areas protected from their native predators. But global warming is making some of these regions even hotter and drier.
“Environmental change is occurring at an unprecedented rate due to anthropogenic global warming, which means that predicting future species distribution and population patterns, protecting and managing them requires environmental conditions “This means it is important to understand the ecological consequences of changes in philip withers researchers from the University of Western Australia write in a paper.
To learn more, the pair used a thermal imaging camera to film 50 wild animals eating termites at different times of the day from 2020 to 2021.
At each site, portable weather stations were used to record factors such as temperature, wind speed, and humidity. They then incorporated this data into a computer program to model how environmental conditions affected the quolls' internal temperatures.
The researchers found that on days of high heat stress, such as in dry environments with temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius, possums overheat within 10 minutes of exposure to direct sunlight. After that, they need to stop eating and hide from the sun until their body temperature drops.
Shade is helpful, but shade is often scarce, and seeking shade limits the termite-hunting territory of possums, Cooper says. The model also suggests that the combination of high outdoor temperatures and radiant heat from the ground can cause possums to overheat even in the shade.
Feeding at night is not an option for possums, as they have poor night vision and lack the strength to invade termite mounds at night.
To overcome these problems, Cooper recommends conservation groups move quolls to cooler areas of their territory and provide plenty of shade.
Innovative “cooling glass” developed by researchers at the University of Maryland provides a groundbreaking, non-electrical solution for reducing indoor heat and carbon emissions, and significantly advances sustainable building technology. It shows great progress.
Applying new coatings to exterior surfaces can reduce air conditioning usage and help fight climate change.
Researchers at the University of Maryland have developed an innovative “cooling glass” designed to reduce indoor temperatures without using electricity. This revolutionary material works by harnessing the cold air of outer space.
New technology, microporous glass coating, described in paper published in the journal sciencecan lower the temperature of the material beneath it by 3.5 degrees. Celsius According to a research team led by distinguished professor Liangbing Hu of the university’s School of Materials Science and Engineering, it has the potential to reduce the annual carbon dioxide emissions of mid-rise apartments by 10%.
Cooling mechanism with two functions
This coating works in two ways. For one, it reflects up to 99% of solar radiation, preventing buildings from absorbing heat. Even more interestingly, this universe emits heat in the form of long-wave infrared radiation into the icy universe, whose temperature is typically -270 degrees Celsius, or just a few degrees warmer. absolute temperature.
In a phenomenon known as “radiative cooling,” spaces effectively act as heat sinks for buildings. They use new cooling glass designs and so-called atmospheric transparency windows (the part of the electromagnetic spectrum that passes through the atmosphere without increasing its temperature) to dump large amounts of heat into the infinitely colder sky beyond. Masu. (Although the emissions are much stronger than those from the new glass developed at UMD, the same phenomenon causes the Earth to cool itself, especially on clear nights.)
State-of-the-art durable materials
“This is an innovative technology that simplifies the way we keep buildings cool and energy efficient,” said research assistant Xinpeng Zhao, lead author of the study. “This could help us change the way we live and take better care of our homes and the planet.”
Unlike previous attempts at cooling coatings, the new glass developed by UMD is environmentally stable, withstanding exposure to water, UV light, dirt, and even flame, and withstands temperatures up to 1,000 degrees Celsius. can withstand. Because glass can be applied to a variety of surfaces such as tile, brick, and metal, the technology is highly scalable and can be adopted for a wide range of applications.
The research team could use finely ground glass particles as a binder, bypassing polymers and increasing long-term durability outdoors, Zhao said. We then selected a particle size that maximizes the release of infrared heat while reflecting sunlight.
Climate change solutions and global impacts
The development of cooling glass is in line with global efforts to reduce energy consumption and combat climate change, Hu said, adding that this year’s Independence Day could have been the world’s hottest day in 125,000 years. He pointed out recent reports that it was a day of sex.
“This ‘cooling glass’ is not just a new material, it’s an important part of the solution to climate change,” he said. “By reducing the use of air conditioners, we have taken a big step towards reducing energy usage and reducing our carbon footprint. This is because new technology is helping us build a cooler, greener world. It shows how it can help.”
In addition to Hu and Zhao, Jelena Srebric and Zongfu Yu, professors of mechanical engineering in the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are co-authors of the study, each contributing expertise in CO2 reduction and structural design. There is. .
The team is now focused on further testing and practical application of the cooled glass. They are optimistic about its commercialization prospects and have formed a startup company, CeraCool, to scale and commercialize it.
Reference: “Solution-processed radiatively cooled glass” Xinpeng Zhao, Tangyuan Li, Hua Xie, He Liu, Lingzhe Wang, Yurui Qu, Stephanie C. Li, Shufeng Liu, Alexandra H. Brozena, Zongfu Yu, Jelena Srebric, Liangbing Written by Hu, November 9, 2023, science. DOI: 10.1126/science.adi2224
Bearded seals have complex nasal bones that help retain internal heat.
Ole Jorgen Rioden/naturepl.com
Arctic seals have evolved clever adaptations to help them stay warm in frigid climates. The nose has a complex maze of bones.
Many birds and mammals, including humans, have a pair of thin, porous nasal bones called turbinates or nasal turbinates, which are covered with a layer of tissue.
“They have a scroll shape or a tree-like branching shape,” he says. Matthew Mason at Cambridge University.
When we breathe in, air first flows through the maxillary turbinates, allowing the surrounding tissues to warm and humidify the air before it reaches the lungs. When we exhale, the air follows the same route, trapping heat and moisture so it doesn’t get lost.
The more complex the shape, the larger the surface area and the more efficient it is at doing its job.
Animals that live in cold, dry environments, such as arctic reindeer, have been found to have more complex gnathonasal turbinates than animals that live in warmer climates.
Now, Mason and his colleagues have discovered that arctic seals have the most complex gnathonasal turbinates ever reported.
Researchers took a CT scan of a bearded seal (Elignathus barbatus), commonly found in the Arctic, and the Mediterranean monk seal (monax monax). Both species had complex turbinates, but the researchers found that the bearded seal’s nasal bones were much denser and more complex than anything seen before.
Mason and his colleagues used computer models to measure how much energy is lost as heat in physical processes at -30°C and 10°C (-22°F and 50°F). We compared how well the seals retain heat and moisture.).
With each breath at -30°C, Mediterranean monk seals lost 1.45 times more heat and 3.5 times more water than bearded seals. Similarly, at 10°C, monk seals lost about 1.5 times more water and heat than arctic seals.
“More complex structures evolved to make life in the Arctic possible,” he says. Sign Kelstrup At the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
