The Copernicus Marine Service has published the 2nd Ocean State Report (OSR), an extensive analysis on the state of the ocean over the last quarter of a century.
The OSR is a periodically published scientific report written by more than 100 scientific experts from more than 30 European institutions. It is a comprehensive and state-of-the-art assessment of the current state, natural variations, and changes in the ocean meant to act as a reference document for scientists, the Blue business community, policy and decision-makers as well as the general public. This year we have also published a report summary intended to provide some context and basic scientific explanation surrounding the key findings.
Highlights
Over the past quarter of a century, global sea ice melted at a pace far faster than ever observed since our earliest records dating back to the 1980s and there was a record sea ice extent low at both poles during the year 2016.
In the Arctic, sea ice extent is decreasing at a rate of 6.2% per decade, while sea ice volume has decreased at a rate of 15.4% per decade.
Over the past quarter of a century, the global ocean and the European seas are warming and the sea level is rising, and a number of record-breaking extreme events occurred in Europe.
Global sea level is rising at a rate of 3.3 millimetres per year.
About 30-40% of this sea level rise is due to the thermosteric (warming) effect (water expands when heated).
Sea level rise in European seas increased at a rate of 2.5 to 4 millimetres per year.
Global ocean heat content (heat absorbed by the ocean) increased at a rate of 0.8 Watts (heat) per meters squared. About 93% of the excess heat created by human activities on Earth is absorbed by the ocean.
Read Full Report
> Read Report Summary
> Ocean State Report 2 Press Release
via Mercator