Climate change to heat up oceans at seven times their current rate

Rapid and inconsistent deep water heating will have a huge impact on ocean wildlife.

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According to a new study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, the second half of the century will see a drastic shift in oceans heating up more rapidly. Researchers predict the rate of climate change could accelerate to seven times their current rate in the deep parts of the oceans. 

According to EcoWatch, the study found that different parts of the ocean undergo change at different rates as the extra heat from increasing levels of greenhouse gases moved through the vast ocean depths, making it increasingly tricky for marine life to adapt. 

Researchers of this study, led by Isaac Brito-Morales, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Queensland in Australia, collected data from 11 different climate models to come to their conclusion. By looking at the previous 50 years of data, they were able to predict the future of greenhouse gas emissions. 

“This allowed us to compare climate velocity in four ocean depth zones — assessing in which zones biodiversity could shift their distribution the most in response to climate change,” says Brito-Morales. 

With inconsistent global heating patterns affecting different ocean depths, marine wildlife will be hugely impacted. According to The Guardian, at present, the world’s heating was already causing species to shift in all layers of the ocean from the surface to more than 4km down, but at different speeds.

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