BOILING OVER

Oceans Are Heating Up Way Faster Than We Thought, Scientists Say

Rates are 40 percent above what scientists thought they were, according to a new report.

A report published in the journal Science warns that oceans are warming up 40 percent faster than predicted by the United Nations five years ago. “2018 is going to be the warmest year on record for the Earth’s oceans,” Zeke Hausfather, of Berkeley Earth and an author of the study, told The New York Times. “As 2017 was the warmest year, and 2016 was the warmest year.” The fact that the oceans are warming up faster than expected is especially troubling because oceans act as a secondary buffer for global warming after the ozone layer, taking in 93 percent of the heat from greenhouse gases. Warmer waters also mean marine life is dying off faster, ecosystems are getting destroyed more rapidly, and weather patterns are becoming increasingly violent and intense.

IN HOT WATER

Oceans Are Trapping More Heat Than We Realized