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Extent of Ocean Surface Above 86 Degrees (F) Hits New Record During May of 2016
5
June, 2016
Not
only is a human-forced warming of the globe expected to increase
average surface ocean and land temperatures, it is also expected to
generate higher peak readings over larger and larger regions. Such
was the case during May of 2016 as a massive expanse of the world
ocean saw temperatures rocket to above 30 degrees Celsius (or 86
degrees Fahrenheit).
(A
record hot global ocean has brewed up yet one more new extreme in the
form of a 32.7 million square kilometer expanse of steaming hot
waters above 86 degrees Fahrenheit or 36 degrees Celsius. Image
source: Brian
Brettschneider.)
According
to climatologist Brian Brettschneider,
32.7 million square kilometers of the world ocean saw temperatures in
excess of 30 degrees Celsius during May of 2016. A new record for the
largest sea surface area above a high temperature threshold that
typically sets off a range of harmful ocean conditions — including
coral bleaching, lower levels of seawater oxygen, and increased rates
of algae growth — even as it dumps copious volumes of high latent
heat water vapor into the Earth’s atmosphere.
The
new record belittled 2015’s May 30 C + extent of about 28.5 million
square kilometers — beating it by over 4 million square kilometers.
For reference, the new 32.7 million square kilometer record extent of
such steamy ocean waters is about equal in area to the size of Africa
and Greenland combined.
(A
huge expanse of Equatorial waters saw sea surface temperatures in
excess of 30 degrees Celsius or 86 degrees Fahrenheit during May. A
record expanse of hot water that is also now in the process of
dumping a record amount of high latent heat moisture into the Earth’s
atmosphere. Image source: Earth
Nullschool.)
High
water temperatures in the range of 30 C greatly increase the latent
heat energy of the Earth system. Such warm waters pump out an
extraordinary volume of high heat content water vapor into the
atmosphere. And May’s record 30 C extent has almost certainly
contributed to numerous extreme rainfall events occurring around the
globe during late May and extending into early June.
Rising
Sea and Land Surface Temperatures as Global Health Risk
Record
extents of 30+ C waters also increase the potential for combinations
of high heat and humidity over the Earth’s surface that result in a
rising risk of human heat injuries or even death. In India this year
nearly 400 people are thought to have died directly due to excessive
heat. Thousands
more are reported injured in
what is now a record heatwave and drought affecting the highly
populated country.
Field
workers are also suffering from increasing instances of chronic
kidney failure —
a condition that
health professionals are starting to link to the extreme heat,
humidity and other conditions related to climate change.
Though highest instances of kidney disease show up among those
working outside during the heat of the day, 1 in 13 people in India
now suffer from it. Lack of available water due to drought, rising
temperatures due to climate change, a lack of air conditioning in the
increasingly sweltering country, and a dearth of breaks in which
outdoor workers can retreat to the shade are all identified as
factors that have led to such amazingly high rates of kidney illness
and kidney failure in India.
In
the worst instances of the most dangerous periods of high heat, wet
bulb readings — which are meant to simulate the lowest temperature
evaporation can cool the human skin to — have approached 35 C. A
combination of temperature and humidity that renders the human body
unable to transport heat away from the skin and a reading that
greatly increases the risk of heat injury and death. And since
maximum ocean surface temperatures are a good proxy for peak
potential wet bulb readings, a record extent of 30+ C sea surface
temperatures is a context of rising risk for the new kinds of
heatwave mass casualties associated with human-caused climate change.
Links:
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Tip to DT Lange
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