- As scientists get seriously nervous over worsening climate crisis
The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) in Germany has declared that in the south-western Pacific near the Fijian Islands, the ocean has not been as warm in the past 600 years as it is today.
It stated this in a study published in the Science Advances journal, insisting that the data is “further evidence of the unprecedented warming of the western Pacific.”
A report by the German News Service (delivered by dpa) maintained that the view into the climatic past was made possible by the reef-building honeycomb coral (Diploastrea heliopora) which can live for a very long time and grows on average between 3 to 6 millimetres per year.
The JCU stated that climate changes of past centuries are stored in the skeletons of such corals, adding specifically that the researchers looked at a core about 2 metres long from such a coral, focusing on the ratio of strontium to calcium.
The age of each layer was determined using the Uranium-Thorium dating method, thanks to the Institute of Geosciences at Mainz University.
Basically, scientists examine how much the uranium isotopes contained have decayed radioactively and transformed into thorium, which enables them to draw conclusions about age.
The evaluation of coral data from 1370 to 1997, supplemented by 26 years of water temperature measurements, showed that 2022 was the warmest year in the Pacific region since 1370.
The southwestern Pacific plays a central role in regulating global climate patterns such as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation weather phenomenon, a coupled circulation system of ocean and atmosphere in the tropical Pacific.
Strong and moderate El Niño events contribute to warming and increase the average global surface temperature, potentially affecting high and low-pressure systems, winds and precipitation.
The coral project scientists say current climate simulations suggest that changes over the 21st century are likely to lead to further drought or heavy rainfall. This could cause adverse effects for the inhabitants of endangered Pacific islands and their ecosystems.
Meanwhile, scientists have also raised the alarm over escalating climate crisis worldwide
Director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and one of the world’s most renowned climate scientists, Professor Johan Rockström, said the climate crisis is accelerating in a way that is shaking up many scientists.
In a TED talk published last week, he said: “We Earth system scientists and climate scientists are getting seriously nervous. The planet is changing faster than we have expected. Abrupt changes are occurring in a way that is way beyond the realistic expectations in science.”
Professor Rockström didn’t mince words when he described the risks to the audience in Seattle, Washington stressing: ”If we follow this path, we will crash through 2°C within 20 years. This means that 2023, the warmest year on record, will be looked back upon as a mild year.”
The lack of action is already hurting economies worldwide–through floods, heat waves, droughts, disease patterns and human-reinforced storms. If we follow the current path, we are facing an 18 percent loss in GDP by 2050, according to Professor Rockström. That’s equivalent to 38 trillion dollars of yearly loss by 2050.
A group of global climate justice crusaders, WeDontHaveTime, said the good news is “we have all the solutions we need “to get a healthier, stable and secure future with jobs and economies that can compete and provide livelihoods into the future.”
“But we don’t have time to wait. The only currencies that matter are speed and scale,” Rockström added.
