The marine heat waves tripled in 2023-24 with respect to the last period of El Niño

In the last two years, climate change, exacerbated by the El Niño phenomenon, has caused 10% of the ocean to reach record temperatures, with very significant impacts for coral reefs, fishing and coastal communities.

As an example of some of the most devastating impacts of extreme oceanic temperatures in 2023-24, The authors cite the Gabrielle cyclone in New Zealand, in 2023, which killed 11 people and caused damage worth more than 8,000 million dollars.

In terms of economic impacts, the extreme temperatures that were reached on the coast of Peru affected anchovy fishing, causing losses of 1.4 billion dollars in this fishery between 2023 and 2024.

More floods

Climate change also increased the intensity of rainfall by at least 10% in the 2023-24 period.

One of the most relevant impacts of this intensification were the heavy rains in Libya during the storm Daniel, which caused the collapse of the Derna dam and, with it, a deadly flood that left 6,000 dead.

The impact of the temporal and floods in Valencia last October is not included in the study, while it was after the closing of data of this international research.

In the last two years marine heat waves have forced to close fisheries and business ofacuiculture, whale and dolphins varies have increased and have caused the fourth world whitening of the corals.

In the Spanish Canary Islands, species of warmer waters appeared.

In the Mediterranean, high temperatures put many marine species in Brete, such as births.

Beyond the child

The authors point out that although the phenomenon of El Niño exacerbated marine heat waves in the 2023-24 period, “scientific evidence indicates that Climate change has already increased 50% marine heat waves between 2011-2021 ″.

“If we continue to burn fossil fuels and talent forests, sea heat waves could be between 20 and 50 times more frequent and ten times more intense at the end of the century. Replacing oil, coal and gas with renewable energies is vital to safeguard ocean life and coastal communities, ”concludes the international team of scientists that the study has done.