Indian ocean is warming owing to climate change, says Gael Alory, an oceanographer at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO).
The changes in the Indian Ocean are not natural, but man made, linked to changes in the heat structure of the atmosphere that have led to a rise in water temperatures in the sub-tropical Indian Ocean of around two degrees Celsius.
Alory studied the past 40-year record of the Indian Ocean that clearly shows signs of surging sea temperatures. The study demonstrates rise in temperature by about 2°C in 40 years between 40°S and 50°S down to a depth of 800 m. On the contrary, sub-surface cooling in the tropics due to deep waters rising closer to the surface is witnessed.
Alory’s research helped to confirm the existence of the Indonesian ‘through flow‘, a system of currents that transfers water between the oceans through a chain of passages in the Indonesian Archipelago. The cooling is taking pace between Australia and Indonesia where the Indonesian through flow, linked to the weakening of Pacific Ocean trade winds, appears in the Indian Ocean.
The study states that most of the changes in ocean circulation, temperatures and wind patterns, over the last few decades have occurred owing to the production of aerosols, greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuels and ozone depletion. Temperatures are expected to shoot further higher in the coming times owing to ever-increasing pollution levels.
Even United Nations climate panel, concluded in its research that human activity was causing global warming and predicted more droughts, heatwaves and rising seas.
Its high time, we took a positive action to save innumerable ocean and terrestrial species. Global warming will not spare anyone and has the potential to devour every living being on earth, a clear indication of a disaster waiting to happen, if not controlled on time.
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Via: Treehugger