2023-07-12 19:04:39
A plankton bloom (in light green in the center) off the southwest coast of Ireland, as seen by NASA on June 3, 2022. NASA Earth Observatory/Cover Images via Reuters Connect
Satellite data shows that, overall, lower latitude oceans have become greener.
From green to blue, from blue to green… Imperceptibly, the color of the oceans has changed over the past twenty years, partly under the influence of global warming. A study published Wednesday, July 12 in the journal Nature confirms that this phenomenon, long predicted by scientists, is already detectable by satellite observations. It concerns more than half of the surface of the world’s oceans, an area larger than all of the emerged lands.
The transformations of the color of the water vary greatly according to the regions of the globe. Overall, the study authors find that « lower latitude oceans have become greener » : the water is less and less blue off the tropics near the equator. Moreover, these color changes cannot be explained solely by natural variations due to the seasons or cyclical climatic phenomena, such as El Niño.
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