A year’s worth of rain in six hours, anomalous downpours on several continents at once, six typhoons in a month. What do these disasters have in common? The answer lies hidden where almost no one looks — in the depths of the World Ocean. Let’s figure it out together in the weekly review of climate disasters that occurred from November 13 to November 19.
It is no longer a secret that the overheated World Ocean is causing tropical hurricanes to produce an anomalous amount of precipitation, unprecedented power, and atypical behavior.
In 2023, its surface temperature broke all records, and 2024 is already surpassing these indicators. Moreover, over the past 30 years, ocean warming has increased by 450%, raising serious concerns and questions about why this is happening.
Research has also shown that over the past 60 years, the average depths of the ocean have begun to warm 15 times faster than over the previous 10,000 years. This requires an enormous amount of energy. But where does it come from at such depths, where solar energy cannot penetrate?
Scientists suggest that sources of heat could be volcanoes, faults, and hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, of which there are more than 10 million.
Another problem is ocean pollution with plastic. The area of plastic islands is now comparable to the combined size of the United States and Australia. As it breaks down, plastic disrupts the thermal conductivity of water, causing the ocean to lose its ability to effectively cool the planet.
Some scientists believe that if the situation with the ocean does not change, disasters could wipe all life off the face of the Earth. The planet needs a well-functioning cooling system.
The documentary "Climate Crisis and Ocean Pollution: Global Challenges and Solutions" presented by the volunteers of the ALLATRA International Public Movement at the COP16 conference, thoroughly explores this problem and offers a practical solution.
This solution will not only reduce the frequency and intensity of climate disasters across the planet but also provide clean drinking water for everyone without exception.