- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
- Mourners pay tribute to latest victims of deadly Channel crossing
- Tunisia incumbent Saied set to win presidential vote: exit polls
- Phillies win thriller to level Mets series
- Yu bags first PGA Tour win with playoff win
- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.12% | 24.784 | $ | |
NGG | -1.23% | 65.69 | $ | |
SCS | -0.49% | 12.907 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
RIO | -0.17% | 69.58 | $ | |
GSK | 0.08% | 38.85 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.17% | 24.657 | $ | |
VOD | 0.41% | 9.7 | $ | |
RELX | -0.59% | 46.02 | $ | |
BCC | 0.76% | 139.97 | $ | |
JRI | -0.23% | 13.25 | $ | |
BCE | -0.58% | 33.515 | $ | |
BP | 0.86% | 33.165 | $ | |
AZN | -0.41% | 77.15 | $ | |
BTI | -0.18% | 35.225 | $ |
Oceans are changing colour and climate change may be to blame
Over the past 20 years huge swathes of the world's oceans have changed colour, displaying a subtle greening towards the tropics that researchers say points to the effect of climate change on life in the world's seas.
In the new research published on Wednesday, scientists said they had detected shifts in colours across more than half of the world's oceans -- an expanse bigger than Earth's total land area.
Authors of the study in Nature think that is down to changes in ecosystems, and particularly in tiny plankton, which are the centrepiece of the marine food web and play a crucial part in stabilising our atmosphere.
"The reason we care about the colour changes is because the colour reflects the state of the ecosystem, so colour changes mean ecosystem changes," lead author B.B. Cael, of Britain's National Oceanography Centre, told AFP.
The colour of the seas when seen from space can paint a picture of what is going on in the upper layers of the water.
A deep blue would tell you that there is not much life, while if the water is greener it is likely to have more activity, specifically from the photosynthesising phytoplankton, which like plants contain the green pigment chlorophyll.
These produce a significant amount of the oxygen we breathe, are a crucial part of the global carbon cycle and are a foundational part of the ocean food web.
- Life colours -
Researchers are keen to develop ways of monitoring changes in ecosystems in order to track climate changes and enshrine protected areas.
But previous studies have suggested you would need three decades of ocean chlorophyll monitoring to detect a trend because of annual variations.
In the latest study, researchers broadened the colour spectrum, looking at seven hues of ocean colour monitored by the MODIS-Aqua satellite from 2002 to 2022.
These are too subtle for humans to see and would look largely blue to the naked eye.
The authors analysed the observational data to detect a trend above the year-to-year variability and then compared it to computer models of what would be expected with climate change.
They found that the real-world observations tallied closely with the changes predicted.
While the researchers said more work would be needed to find out what exactly those colour changes might mean, they said climate change was very likely to be the cause.
"I've been running simulations that have been telling me for years that these changes in ocean colour are going to happen," said co-author Stephanie Dutkiewicz, of MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Center for Global Change Science.
"To actually see it happening for real is not surprising, but frightening. And these changes are consistent with man-induced changes to our climate."
A.Malone--AMWN