The world’s oceans are warming 13% faster than thought - and ‘extreme’ weather is coming

The world’s oceans are warming far faster than scientists had previously believed – and it could trigger extreme weather events such as flood and droughts.

The researchers corrected old climate data, combining it with new data collected using a new, better sensing device – Argo floats, which are spread out across oceans to measure temperatures to depths of around 2000m.

At the surface, the floats transmit data to satellites.

MORE: Mum releases footage of horror crash that killed her son as police launch seat belt campaign

MORE: Research finds 98% of Brits think they are in the top 50% of nicest people

Using data from these, combined with old data and climate simulations, the team believes that warming is acccelerating – with the warming rate in 1992 twice as great as the warming rate in 1960.

Lead author, Lijing Cheng says, ‘Our challenge was to assess the changes to global ocean heat and fill data gaps. A major issue is to ensure gap-filling is reliable. It is this issue that motivated the study.

‘We rigorously evaluated the reliability of our approach and as a result, we have much higher confidence that the ocean and the Earth are warming at a faster rate than previously thought.

In a press release, the team said, ‘The oceans are affecting weather and climate through more intense rains. This process is a major reason why 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded at the Earth’s surface, beating out 2015 which was the previous record.

‘Additionally 2015 was a year with record hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, and wild-fires around the world.’