Global sea levels are rising at an "alarming rate" of 3.1 mm per year

Science and Technology Daily Beijing, September 26 (Intern reporter Zhang Jiaxin) According to a latest report on the global ocean released by the European Union's Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Center on the 22nd, the arctic ice range recorded in the past two years has reached an all-time low, with an average decline of nearly 13% per 10 years since 1979 to 2020, and the area of sea ice reduction is equivalent to the area of 6 Germanys.

The annual Copernican Marine Environmental Monitoring Centre Ocean Status Report 5, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Operational Oceanography, draws on analysis by more than 120 scientists from more than 30 European institutions to provide a comprehensive, advanced scientific report on the current state, natural changes and ongoing changes in the global oceans and the European region. This year's key review shows the unprecedented impact of climate change.

The report shows that the oceans are undergoing unprecedented changes, which have a huge impact on human well-being and the marine environment. Surface and subsurface sea temperatures are rising around the world, and warming oceans and melting land ice are causing sea levels to continue to rise at an alarming rate: 2.5 millimetres per year in the Mediterranean and 3.1 millimeters per year globally.

It is estimated that warming in the Arctic Ocean accounts for nearly 4% of total global ocean warming. The average sea ice thickness of the Barents Sea (a small part of the Arctic) has decreased by almost 90 percent, which has led to a decrease in sea ice imports from the polar basin.

The report argues that in the North Sea, extreme changes in cold waves and marine heat waves are associated with changes in the catch of flounder, European lobster, sea bass, red mullet and edible crabs. Pollution from land-based activities such as agriculture and industry is leading to ocean eutrophication, affecting fragile ecosystems.

The report also shows that ocean warming and increased salinity in the Mediterranean have intensified over the past decade. In the Mediterranean, Venice had 4 consecutive record flood events (November 2019) and the southern Mediterranean had above-average wave heights (2019).

From 1993 to 2019, the global average SST rose at a rate of 0.015 degrees Celsius per year, and from 1955 to 2019, oxygen levels (oxygen stocks) in the Black Sea declined at a rate of 0.16 moles/m2 per year.

The head of the report, Dr. Karina von Schuchmann, summarized the international situation of the oceans and noted that in addition to regular monitoring, there is a need for continuous improvement of state-of-the-art marine knowledge and the development and delivery of new products.