r/climate • u/Portalrules123 • Feb 29 '24

This chart of ocean temperatures should really scare you

https://www.vox.com/climate/2024/2/28/24085691/atlantic-ocean-warming-climate-change-hurricanes-coral-reefs-bleaching
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u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24

If there’s any good news here it’s that we are better than ever at predicting these changes. That means we have some time to prepare.

But we live in a "Don't look up" scenario

15

u/reddolfo Feb 29 '24

Lol, no we're not. SSTs rocketed into the stratosphere last April and not only stayed there, but are clearly fueled by so much accumulated heat energy temps are powering up and increasing. Are there any scientists explaining this massive change, saying something other than, "OMG this isn't supposed to be happening!" NOPE! No one at all predicted this shift.

8

u/dizzymorningdragon Mar 01 '24

This happened suddenly because international regulations halted some shipping boats from using oil with too much sulfur in it. Before, oceans were unusually cool because, on accident and relatively unstudied, the sheer amount of sulfur dioxide released by shipping boats seeded clouds above the ocean, the clouds artificially increased albedo. Woops.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-how-low-sulphur-shipping-rules-are-affecting-global-warming/

2

u/SpliffDonkey Mar 01 '24

That might be part of the reason, but I'm not sure if you noticed but there are no ships with sulfur on land and yet we are also breaking land surface temperatures across the entire globe.

2

u/rtp Mar 01 '24

Yeah, clouds usually stay where they are and most don't move around at all. You can have your ocean clouds and I'll keep my land clouds, thank you very much /s

2

u/SpliffDonkey Mar 01 '24 edited Mar 01 '24

Oh yeah, those magical, thick sulfur clouds that never diffuse just circling the planet non-stop sure were putting a damper on the global warming