Oceanic sea surface temperatures/SSTs and near surface temperatures don’t have as long a climate record as land-based temperatures. The latter are buttressed by paleoclimatological data going back hundreds of thousands of years. The existing database for SSTs, however, clearly shows the current ocean temperatures north of the equator are at never-observed heights. The July 29th SST anomalies, even on first glance, do jump out.
It must be kept in mind that these colors represent anomalies, which is the extent of excess heating, compared with normal ocean temperature climatology.
At this time in our climate history and current state of the planet, the evidence is overwhelming that global warming is accelerating, writes Don Paul.
The year 2023 stands out alone in the Northern Hemisphere up to this point.
This is, truly, uncharted territory, and extends geographically far beyond the shallow water extremes of near 100 degree SSTs never before seen near South Florida in shallow water (SST anomalies are not quite as extreme over deeper waters).
Where you see those dark red patches, those represent what are called marine heat waves. According to NOAA, which tracks global ocean temperatures, these heat waves now govern 44% of global oceans, where in midsummer,…
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