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Due to global warming and increased glacier melt, thermohaline circulation patterns may be altered by increasing amounts of freshwater released into oceans and, therefore, changing ocean salinity. Thermohaline circulation is responsible for bringing up cold, nutrient-rich water from the depths of the ocean, a process known as upwelling .
The ocean can be described as the world's largest ecosystem and it is home for many species of marine life. Different activities carried out and caused by human beings such as global warming, ocean acidification, and pollution affect marine life and its habitats.
Some climate change effects: wildfire caused by heat and dryness, bleached coral caused by ocean acidification and heating, environmental migration caused by desertification, and coastal flooding caused by storms and sea level rise. Effects of climate change are well documented and growing for Earth's natural environment and human societies. Changes to the climate system include an overall ...
There is unequivocal evidence that Earth's lower atmosphere, ocean, and land surface are warming; sea level is rising; and snow cover, mountain glaciers, and Arctic sea ice are shrinking. The dominant cause of the warming since the 1950s is human activities. This scientific finding is based on a large and persuasive body of research.
With primary causes being warming ocean waters, ocean acidity, and pollution. [148] In 2008, a worldwide study estimated that 19% of the existing area of coral reefs had already been lost. [ 149 ] Only 46% of the world's reefs could be currently regarded as in good health [ 149 ] and about 60% of the world's reefs may be at risk due to ...
This is because ocean warming increases near-surface stratification, subsurface layer is still in equilibrium with the colder climate. This causes the surface amplification to be stronger than older models predicted. [33] An instrument carried by the SAC-D satellite Aquarius, launched in June 2011, measured global sea surface salinity. [34] [35]
The ocean also absorbs some of the extra carbon dioxide that is in the atmosphere. This causes the pH value of the seawater to drop. [16] Scientists estimate that the ocean absorbs about 25% of all human-caused CO 2 emissions. [16] The various layers of the oceans have different temperatures.
While marine pollution can be obvious, as with the marine debris shown above, it is often the pollutants that cannot be seen that cause most harm.. Marine pollution occurs when substances used or spread by humans, such as industrial, agricultural and residential waste, particles, noise, excess carbon dioxide or invasive organisms enter the ocean and cause harmful effects there.