Pirate's Cove

It’s always some sort of complete coming doom with this crowd

World’s oceans losing their greenness through global heating, study finds

The world’s oceans are losing their greenness owing to global heating, according to a study that suggests our planet’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide could be weakening.

The change in the palette of the seas is caused by a decline of phytoplankton, the tiny marine creatures that are responsible for nearly half of the biosphere’s productivity.

The findings, which also have alarming implications for oxygen levels and food chains, are based on a groundbreaking study of daily chlorophyll concentrations in low to mid-latitude oceans from 2001 to 2023.

Chlorophyl is a green pigment responsible for photosynthesis, the process by which plants, algae and phytoplankton convert sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and glucose. It is one of the foundation blocks of life on Earth.

Here’s the thing, there are reasons for a loss of plankton, one of which is ocean pollution. The second is more fresh water in the higher latitudes. The latter is something that can, in fact, happen during any Holocene warm period, but, they adjust, because warm and cool periods happen. We do not have to invoke witchcraft, er, Your Fault

Using deep-learning algorithms, the authors of the new paper compiled data from satellites and monitoring ships to assess the change in the oceans’ hue. They found a significant decline of greenness – about 0.35 micrograms per cubic metre each year – over the more than two decade period of the study. The trend was twice as high in coastal regions and more than four times greater near river estuaries.

And there you go, yet another study based on a computer model, rather than actual on-site research.

The new paper says the change was probably caused by rising temperatures associated with climate change.

“Probably”? Meaning, this is all a guess. Perhaps they should have done actual Science to determine the cause, rather than fearmongering in Cult.

This confirms theories about the impact of global heating on ocean stratification. Collaborating author Michael Mann, of the University of Pennsylvania, said: “This is the first study to robustly demonstrate that, yes, we can confidently conclude that we are seeing a decrease in the greenness of the ocean, indicating a lowering of marine productivity, constituting yet another threat to humanity associated with fossil fuel burning and human-caused planetary warming.”