How Climate Change Impacts Ocean Temperature and Marine Life

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It is impossible to imagine the Earth without its massive bodies of water, which gave birth to all life as humanity knows it. The World Ocean covers over 70% of the planet’s surface, and it contains 90% of its biosphere, and yet it remains mostly unexplored (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2018). Due to this fact, people can only guess the number of species the ocean contains, but marine life continues to play a crucial role in sustaining human civilization.

Acknowledging this role is a simple task, yet an actual realization of how much people change the biosphere has only come up recently. Humanity relies on various ecosystem services such as fisheries, plant resources, water sequestration and recreation, scientific opportunities, and others (Cheung & Jones, 2019). However, marine biodiversity is continuously threatened by human activities, both directly and indirectly.

Humanity presents direct threats to marine life, such as pollution, destruction of habitat, and overfishing. There are several indirect threats produced by careless exploitation of the planet’s resources, and they include raising water salinity and acidity, increased emissions that cause global warming, and water circulation (Cheung & Jones, 2019). This essay will discuss the effects of these changes on ocean temperature and marine life.

The global temperature is on the rise since the industrial revolution. While regional trends may vary, the conclusion is clear: the average seasonal air temperature has increased by more than 1°C (National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 2020). Changes in the atmosphere have a meaningful impact on the ocean through various ways, although mostly through atmosphere-surface interaction. The ocean’s surface consumes the excess heat from the air, which leads to significant issues in all of the planet’s ecosystems.

In addition to this interaction, global warming led to glacier shrinkage across the globe. The observations by Mackintosh et al. (2018) clearly show “anthropogenically forced climate warming, global-scale glacier retreat, and overall ice volume loss in the Southern Alps” (p. 10). The issue persists in all regions, as the examination of Hengduan Shan by Wang et al. (2017) reveals that “the area of glaciers declined at an average rate of−0.40 ± 0.26% a⁻¹” (p. 535). The most significant impact of global warming can be observed in the Arctic regions, where average temperatures have increased twice as much as in any other part of the world (United Nations, 2017). The melting due to climate change coupled with thermal expansion of the ocean causes the water level to rise globally, increasing its intensity every year.

A significant part of global warming is caused by greenhouse gas emissions produced because of human abuse of environmentally dangerous chemicals in many aspects of modern civilization activities. The crucial part of this issue is CO2 emissions caused by fossil fuel use, deforestation, agriculture, and soil degradation (Environmental Protection Agency, 2019). Several gases that are used in modern industry, refrigeration, and consumer products, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and perfluorocarbons (PFCs), deplete the ozone layer, which protects the Earth from ultraviolet rays (Environmental Protection Agency, 2019). These issues persist throughout the industrial era into modern days, and the efforts on their negation are still underway.

The warming levels steadily increase, despite the efforts of humanity in the past few years. These changes reshape life in marine regions at a rapid pace, with many adverse effects that are yet to be exposed. Duarte et al. (2020) state that “many marine species, habitats, and ecosystems have suffered catastrophic declines, and climate change is further undermining ocean productivity and biodiversity” (p. 39). The global scientific interventions forced governments to reshape their views on the ocean. Some of these issues are slowly reversing, such as the population of whales, orcas, and some species of seals. However, most problems that were caused by direct human interaction with the oceanic biosphere, such as overfishing, still exist.

The importance of coral reefs in marine life has been underestimated in the past. Both direct and indirect impacts of hub activities caused significant damage to these crucial ecosystems. The ocean takes up to one-third of all CO2 emissions from the air, which leads to the decline of pH levels and increased acidity of water, which damages coral reefs (Anthony, 2016). Due to their locations, many coral reefs were destroyed or severely damaged as a result of inappropriate fishing, the development of coastal settlements, nutrients and pesticides used in agriculture, and water pollution (Anthony, 2016). This destruction led to significant losses in biodiversity, as well as increased impacts of natural disasters, such as hurricanes and tsunamis, that were previously partially mitigated by the existing natural barriers.

Several oceanic biomes are affected the most by thermal changes brought by humans. Low-oxygen areas tend to have organisms that are specialized in survival under strict environmental and biological conditions, therefore, oceanic regions that contain them tend to rapidly become “dead zones” under climatic changes (Cheung & Jones, 2019). More adapted species, especially vertebrates, are able to migrate from unsatisfying conditions, yet this migration can introduce unexpected shifts in populations of other areas due to the appearance of previously missing links in the food chain (Cheung & Jones, 2019). The survival of whole communities of marine inhabitants depends on humans’ ability to react to such shifts and take necessary action.

As a part of collateral damage from human activities, food sources in the ocean suffered a significant loss. Increases in oceanic temperature affect the nutrients available for most marine animals, mainly because phytoplankton and bacteria tend to be smaller and less productive than the ones who inhabit cold waters (United Nations, 2020). Despite their slowly recovering numbers, whales are facing another threat by this decrease of nutrients. Such changes have a clear impact on larger marine species, although the definite effect on the food web is still unclear.

If no actions will be taken, polar ice will eventually be eliminated. Several species of krill, which is a crucial food source for whales, seabirds, seals, and fish, rely on ice algae that will disappear alongside ice (United Nations, 2020). Moreover, shipping traffic makes these problems even worse by implementing new risks to the lives of inhabitants and increasing pollution. The lack of action on the melting ice problem and prolonged exposure of marine species to these threats will cause a cascade of environmental shifts, extinctions, and biodiversity loss.

Marine life responds to these changes in ways that are sometimes unexpected and unpredictable. From plants to vertebrates, all species migrate and alter their natural biomes of habitat due to human impact. Abrupt temperature changes in the past are linked to mass extinctions of large-bodied vertebrates, especially due to hunting and less available nutrients (Cheung & Jones, 2019). Moreover, these species lost a large portion of their habitat to ice melting.

Humanity acknowledged the necessity of the protection of marine life, yet the recovery process is only starting to show, while the accumulated damage continues to eradicate the diversity of species in the ocean. Duarte et al. (2020) argue that “ongoing efforts to remove pressures on marine life from anthropogenic climate change, hunting, fishing, habitat destruction, pollution, and eutrophication must be expanded and made more effective” (p. 46). A significant portion of modern society relies on the ocean as a source of raw resources and food, and it provides millions of workplaces globally. It is necessary to keep human activities at a reasonable level to evade a potential collapse of this crucial part of human lives.

The commitment to prevent the loss of marine life and start its recovery requires a global partnership between governments, non-state actors, and civilians alike. The United Nations initiated such a project in 2018 that focused on restoring marine life, that includes moratoriums of fishing, taxation of activities that involve the oceanic environment, and investing around 30$ million annually in the protection of the ocean (Duarte et al., 2020). However, this is only a small portion of the necessary actions for humanity to take to prevent an incoming anthropogenic catastrophe.

In this century, various governments have taken the initiative to protect oceanic life, and the results are showing improvement. Observations of marine inhabitants show a reduction in the number of endangered species, recovery of fish stocks, and a reduction in pollution (Duarte et al., 2020). These findings reflect that humans have the potential to alleviate or even eliminate the problem.

With ever-evolving technologies, ecosystem-based inventions and policies that accompany them are the primary sources of meaningful improvements. World energy consumption still consists mainly of the usage of fossil fuels, with nuclear, hydroelectric, and renewable energy sources presenting less than 15% of total energy production (Mathez &Smerdon, 2018). According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, electricity and heat production is responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions (Environmental Protection Agency, 2019). These numbers signify the need to revolutionize ways of energy production to reduce CO2 emissions and protect the future of the oceans and the planet.

Human civilization needs to rethink its attitude to other species and the environment to preserve, protect, and nurture life in the ocean. However difficult this can be, climate change requires reimagining human duties to balance out the accumulated adverse effects in the world. Lewis (2018) states that current rights are overwhelmingly anthropocentric and “construct the environment as something which is instrumental to the fulfillment of other human rights” (p. 59). Lewis (2018) argues that current rights are directly affected by climate change, and there is a need to implement “the human right to a good environment” (p. 61). The weight to uphold a good environment lies upon each person, and it is beneficial to future generations. The lack of such a right directly affects other human rights, such as the right to health and an adequate standard of living.

In conclusion, climate change is one of the most vital challenges humanity has to overcome to step into the future. Society depends on the ocean more than it realized in the past, but with contemporary scientific breakthroughs, it is the duty of all people to save the planet. Modern means of mitigating the impact civilization has on the environment require further development and rapid implementation. The conscious and cautious interaction with nature, a decreased exploitation of natural resources, and preservation of biodiversity are some of the complete tasks for all governments on Earth.

References

Anthony, K. R.N. (2016). Coral reefs under climate change and ocean acidification: Challenges and opportunities for management and policy. The Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 41, 59-81. Web.
Cheung, W. W. L., & Jones, M. C. (2019). Climate change and marine biodiversity. In T. E. Lovejoy & H. Lee (Eds.), Biodiversity and climate change: Transforming the biosphere (pp. 168-184). Yale University.
Duarte, C. M., Agusti, S., Barbier, E., Britten, G. L., Castilla, J. C., Gattuso, J.-P., Fulweiler, R., Hughes, T., Knowlton, N., Lovelock, C., Lotze, H., Predragovic, M., Poloczanska, E., Roberts, C., & Worm, B. (2020). Rebuilding marine life. Nature, 580, 39-51. Web.
Environmental Protection Agency. (2019). Global greenhouse gas emissions data. Web.
Lewis, B. (2018). Environmental human rights and climate change: Current status and future prospects. Springer.
Mackintosh, A. N., Anderson, B. M., Lorrey, A. M., Renwick, J. A., Frei, P., & Dean, S. M. (2017). Regional cooling caused recent New Zealand glacier advances in a period of global warming.Nature Communications, 8. Web.
Mathez, E. A., & Smerdon, J. E. (2018). Climate change: The science of global warming and our energy future (2^nd ed.). Columbia University Press.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration. (2020). GISS Surface Temperature Analysis (v. 4). Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Web.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. (2018). How much of the ocean life have we explored? Web.
United Nations. (2017). The impacts of climate change and related changes in the atmosphere on the oceans. Web.
Wang, X., Chai, K., Liu, S., Wei, J., Jiang, Z., & Liu, Q. (2017). Changes in glaciers and glacial lakes imply corridor-barrier effects and climate change in the Hengduan Shan, southeastern Tibetan plateau. Journal of Glaciology, 63(239), 535-542. Web.

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How Climate Change Impacts Ocean Temperature and Marine Life

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