Global climate change is one of the most challenging issues of our time

Ocean warming is the process of the oceans getting warmer with increasing temperatures as a result of human activities (Cheng et al., 2020; Durack, Gleckler, Purkey, Johnson, Lyman, & Boyer, 2018). In essence, human activities such as burning fossils and cutting trees, among other activities, causes the atmosphere to trap heat and carbon dioxide causing the planet to warm up (Garrison & Ellis, 2016). Only about one percent of the heat stays in the atmosphere while water bodies absorb the rest, oceans trapping about 90 percent of greenhouse gases (Cheng et al., 2020). Notably, the ocean heat is one of the effective ways to show the effects of global warming. It is for this reason that the ocean is coined as “the best thermometer for the planet” (Durack et al., 2018). Research reveals that ocean warming has increased by 450% between the periods 1995-1986 and 1987 and 2019 (Cheng et al., 2020). In 2018, the oceans were unusually warmer compared to the past 60 years (Durack et al., 2018). The oceans have so far absorbed 228 sextillion joules of heat over the past 25 years. Additionally, oceans are increasingly absorbing at least ten times annual energy increments as human energy expenditure increases, and sea surface temperatures will rise by 0.3-0.6 ºC (Durack et al., 2018). 

Ocean warming has dire consequences for humans and animals and plants living in the ocean (Garrison & Ellis, 2016). Ocean warming contributes to heat waves and bush fires on land, death of coral reefs and fish in the sea, rising sea levels leading to land erosions, fuel hurricanes and coastal downpours, and outbreaks of toxin-producing algal blooms (Durack et al., 2018; Laffoley & Baxter, 2016). 

Solutions to reduce global warming entail addressing climate change (Durack et al., 2018). Importantly, countries should abide by the 2015 Paris Agreement, a pledge to reduce greenhouse gas pollution (Laffoley & Baxter, 2016). This can include halting human activities that increase greenhouse emissions such as mining and burning of fossils, transitioning to clean and renewable energy. Governments should also endeavor to protect forests and increase their price cap on industries that emit carbon in the atmosphere (Durack et al., 2018). 

                     Reference

1. Cheng, L., Abraham, J., Zhu, J., Trenberth, K. E., Fasullo, J., Boyer, T., ... & Chen, X. (2020). Record-Setting Ocean Warmth Continued in 2019. Retrieved from     https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00376-020-9283-7 (Links to an external site.)
2. Durack, P. J., Gleckler, P. J., Purkey, S. G., Johnson, G. C., Lyman, J. M., & Boyer, T. P. (2018). Ocean warming: from the surface to the deep in observations and models. Oceanography, 31(2), 41-51.
3. Garrison, T. S., & Ellis, R. (2016). Oceanography: An invitation to Marine Science. National Geographic Learning.
4. Laffoley, D. D. A., & Baxter, J. M. (Eds.). (2016). Explaining ocean warming: Causes, scale, effects and consequences. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.