NOTE: This study has since been corrected in the journal Nature
Researchers with UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Princeton University recently walked back scientific findings published last month that showed oceans have been heating up dramatically faster than previously thought as a result of climate change.
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The world’s oceans may be heating up faster than previously thought — meaning the planet could have even less time to avoid catastrophic global warming than predicted just weeks ago by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
According to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, ocean temperatures have been warming 60 percent more than outlined by the IPCC.
“The ocean warmed more than we thought, and that has serious implications for future policy,” said Laure Resplandy, a researcher at Princeton University’s Environmental Institute who coauthored the report. “This is definitely something that should and will be taken into account in the next report.”
The new study, authored by scientists at Princeton University, UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography and a number of other research centers around the world, is not the first to suggest oceans could be warmer than previously thought.
The report, however, relies on a novel approach that could revolutionize how scientists measure the ocean’s temperature. The findings would need to be reproduced in coming years to gain widespread acceptance throughout the scientific community.
Joshua Emerson Smith – San Diego Union-Tribune – October 31, 2018.
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