Garcia-Soto, Carlos and Cheng, Lijing and Caesar, Levke and Schmidtko, S. and Jewett, Elizabeth B. and Cheripka, Alicia and Rigor, Ignatius and Caballero, Ainhoa and Chiba, Sanae and Báez, Jose Carlos and Zielinski, Tymon and Abraham, John Patrick
(2021)
An Overview of Ocean Climate Change Indicators: Sea Surface Temperature, Ocean Heat Content, Ocean pH, Dissolved Oxygen Concentration, Arctic Sea Ice Extent, Thickness and Volume, Sea Level and Strength of the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation).
Frontiers in Marine Science, 8.
ISSN 2296-7745
Abstract
Global ocean physical and chemical trends are reviewed using seven key ocean climate change indicators: (i) Sea
Surface Temperature, (ii) Ocean Heat Content, (iii) Ocean pH, (iv) Dissolved Oxygen concentration, (v) Arctic Sea
Ice extent, thickness and volume (vi) Sea Level and (vii) the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning
Circulation (AMOC). The globally averaged ocean surface temperature shows a mean warming trend of 0.062 ±
0.013oC/decade over the last 120 years. During the last decade the rate of ocean surface warming has accelerated
to 0.280 ± 0.068oC/decade (4.5 times higher). Ocean Heat Content in the upper 2000m shows a warming rate of
0.35 ± 0.08W/m2 in the period 1955-2019. The mean increase rate of OHC during the last decade is twice as high
(0.70 ± 0.07W/m2) as the long term mean. Global surface ocean pH has declined by approximately 0.1 since the
industrial revolution. By the end of this century ocean pH is projected to decline additionally by 0.1 to 0.4 pH units.
The time of emergence of the signal varies from 8 to 15 years for open ocean sites, and 16 to 41 years for coastal
sites. Global dissolved oxygen levels have decreased by 4.8 petamoles or 2% in the last 5 decades, with profound
impacts on local and basin scale habitats. Arctic sea ice extent is declining by -13.1% per decade during summer
and by -2.6 % per decade during winter. The combined trends of sea ice extent and sea ice thickness indicate that
the volume of non-seasonal Arctic Sea Ice has decreased by 75% since 1979 to 2020. Global mean sea level has
increased in the period 1993-2019 at a mean rate of 3.15 ± 0.3 mm/yr and is experiencing an acceleration of ~ 0.084
(0.06-0.10) mm/yr2. Satellite altimetry also reveals strong regional variability in the rates of sea level change.
Proxies of the evolution of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation indicate that AMOC is at its weakest for
several hundreds of years and has been slowing down during the last century. A final visual summary of key ocean
climate change indicators is provided.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
Acidification;
Aquatic Science;
Arctic sea ice;
Carbon dioxide;
Climate change; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography |
| Item ID: |
18602 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2021.642372 |
| Depositing User: |
IR Editor
|
| Date Deposited: |
30 May 2024 14:46 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Frontiers in Marine Science |
| Publisher: |
Proquest |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
Repository Staff Only(login required)
 |
Item control page |
Downloads per month over past year
Origin of downloads
Altmetric
Altmetric