My title is slightly exaggerated because when you look at the oceans today, they still look blue and the change to a greener hue cannot be detected by the human eye because it is too subtle but the change has taken place over the past 20 years. This has been shown by satellite data and researchers believe that climate change is the most likely cause.
The oceans have become greener over 56% of their area which larger than the landmass on the planet. Tropical areas have been most affected which indicates climate change because those areas are the warmest.
A study was led by Dr. BB Cael from the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton. He believes that the subtle change from blue to green reflects a change in the mix of phytoplankton. These are microbes that contain green pigmentation, chlorophyll, which live in the upper layers of the oceans.
It is also thought that the change might be explained because of a change in the balance of nutrients including phosphorus in the layers of the ocean.
Water near the surface becomes warmer and less dense. Nutrients carried in colder, denser water are locked away at depth as reported in The Times newspaper, today, Thursday, July 13, 2023.
There may be knock-on effects. Phytoplankton is the foundation of the marine food chain. If you change it, you could affect every creature above it in the food chain. This includes krill upon which whales feed copiously.
Three days ago, there was a report by The Times of humpback whales suffering from a decline in krill. This lack of food has led to severe dehydration. Is this linked to global warming and the greening up of the oceans?
If it is, it is in an incredibly serious development. Once again, it brings home the impact of global warming. This is a catastrophe in the making. Global warming is making many children anxious. I can recall an interview recently of a girl who said that she was petrified about global warming. For her it was very real. For the politicians it simply isn’t really enough.
There is a dramatic increase in self-harming among schoolchildren, predominantly girls. There is a concomitant increase in suicide risk for schoolchildren with a high percentage saying that they think about it. Are they super-anxious about the future and is that anxiety a result of concern about global warming?
Stephanie Dutkiewicz, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is a co-author of the study, and she said that she had been running simulations the predicted these changes. She commented and said:
To actually see it happening for real is not surprising but frightening.
Stephanie Dutkiewicz
She uses the word “frightening”. Is it not therefore unsurprising that schoolchildren are also frightened and does this not place added pressure on the politicians of all the world’s countries to do something about global warming tangibly, to walk the walk rather than talk about it. Their pledges have not been followed up by actuality. Empty words seem to be the order of the day and it simply is not good enough.
Provisional figures found that the world had the hottest June on record ever. The new study used data collected by Aqua, a NASA research satellite which studies water cycles.
They looked at seven colours measured between 2002 and 2022.
