The phenomenon is a consequence of the transformation of ecosystems derived from global warming, warns a scientific study
Even the color of the sea is changing due to global warming, and this is nothing but a consequence of deeper ecological transformations. Although at first sight our eyes do not perceive it, in the last twenty years the color of the ocean has changed significantly And, according to a study published in Naturethis alteration is a consequence of climate change caused by man.
The study, led by scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the National Oceanography Center of the United Kingdom, points out that this change has been detected in 56% of the world’s oceansan extension greater than the total terrestrial surface of the planet.
The article explains that tropical ocean regions near the equator are becoming greener, which indicates that surface ecosystems are also changingsince the color of the ocean is a “literal” reflection of the state of the organisms and materials in its waters.
The researchers still can’t say exactly how marine ecosystems are changing, but they’re sure it’s caused by climate change.
“For years I have been carrying out simulations that indicate that these changes in the color of the ocean are going to occur. Seeing what is happening is no longer surprising, it is terrifying“, affirmed Stephanie Dutkiewicz, co-author of the study and scientific researcher at MIT, in statements collected by Efe.
changes in plankton
The color of the ocean reflects what is in the upper layers: deep blue waters reflect very little lifeand the greener waters indicate the presence of ecosystems, mainly phytoplankton – microbes similar to plants that abound in the upper layers of the ocean.
Phytoplankton is the foundation of the marine food web that supports progressively more complex organisms, up to and including krill, fish, and marine birds and mammals, and is also a powerful muscle in the ocean’s ability to capture and store carbon dioxide.
That’s why scientists have spent decades monitoring phytoplankton on the ocean’s surface and studying how these essential communities respond to climate change, monitoring from space.
“The color of the oceans has changed, because it reflects changes in plankton communities, that will affect everything that feeds on plankton”.
“Those changes will also change how much carbon the ocean will absorb, because Different types of plankton have different abilities to do this.. So we hope people take it seriously. Not only models predict these changes. Now we can see it, and the ocean is changing,” Dutkiewicz said.
The prediction came true
Cael and his team analyzed measurements of ocean color made by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite, which He has been monitoring the color of the ocean for 21 years and that it makes measurements in seven visible wavelengths.
And it is that, Although much of the ocean appears blue to our eyes, the actual color may contain a mix of more subtle wavelengths.from blue to green and even to red.
Cael did a statistical analysis using together the seven ocean colors measured by the satellite between 2002 and 2022. He first looked at how much the seven colors changed from one region to another over a year, and then extended the analysis to two decades.
The analysis revealed a clear trend, above the normal annual variability.
To see if the trend is related to climate changeturned to Dutkiewicz’s 2019 model, which simulates Earth’s oceans in two scenarios: one with the addition of greenhouse gases and one without.
The greenhouse gas model predicted that a significant trend should appear in 20 years and that this trend should cause changes in the color of the oceans in about 50 percent of the world’s surface oceans (exactly what Cael found in his analysis of real world satellite data).
Reference study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06321-z
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