The World Meteorological Organization warned recently that oceans have reached their hottest, most acidic levels. As revealed by an annual report, this drastic increase in acidic levels in the ocean can be attributed to four main causes: greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, and ocean acidification, which all reached all-time highs in the year 2021.
"Our climate is changing before our eyes," World Meteorological Organization Secretary General Petteri Taalas said in a statement. "The heat trapped by human-induced greenhouse gases will warm the planet for many generations to come."
As reported by global equity index giant MSCI, everyone will be dealing with a very threatening increase in gases if coal takes the place of Russian gasoline. In addition, oceans will have to face the main crux of global warming and greenhouse gas emissions. They typically take in 90% of the Earth's total heat as well as 23% of carbon dioxide emissions from people-centered activity.
According to the United Nations, people need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, or else they will be dealing with devastating consequences with regards to climate and atmospheric changes on a worldwide level. In terms of temperature, the average in 2021 was 1.11 degrees Celsius past the preindustrial average on a worldwide basis. This average temperature is only expected to increase even further as global warming continues to become more of an issue.
The World Meteorological Organization has also reported severe heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and other climate-related natural disasters on a global scale, which has resulted in about $100 billion worth of damage.
As stated by a recent report, the gases of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and atmospheric methane have all reached record high amounts in the year 2020 and only continued to increase throughout 2021. In particular, scientists voiced their worries about atmospheric methane, since it is the second-largest cause of global warming.
The WMO additionally revealed that sea levels have reached record high amounts, given that they have reached a yearly average of 4.5 mm throughout the past ten years or so. This drastic increase in sea levels has placed millions of people living at or near the coast in danger of experiencing more severe storms and floods.
"Sea level rise, ocean heat and acidification will continue for hundreds of years unless means to remove carbon from the atmosphere are invented," Taalas said in a statement.