Are the oceans turning green because of climate change?

sea ​​blue leaves More and more green In just over half of the world’s oceans over the past 20 years, a change in colour It can be attributed to climate change According to the researchers.

Why does the water turn green?

Thanks to images taken by the MODIS-Aqua satellite, which has been imaging the surface of the oceans since 2002, scientists have been able to prove that The bluish side of the oceans gradually turned green. Today, this color is not Not yet visible to the naked eye But satellites do better at capturing it and we can see A stark development in recent years on a global scale.

If the reasons for this color change can be explained by several parameters, However, the answer comes from the evolution of some marine ecosystems According to a recently published study, notably from plankton. This organism already contains, like plants, a A green pigment related to chlorophyll They are a cornerstone of the diet, playing an important role in the global carbon cycle but also in the production of the oxygen we breathe.

This organization It breeds more and more in certain oceanic regionsthus generating The color of the water is greener in these areas. According to the scholars, This spread is due to the gradual increase in ocean temperature At the global level, which should continue to increase in the coming years. We can also remember that Average ocean surface temperatures break all world records For several weeks now.

Annoying color change

The evolution of phytoplankton is far from trivial. If they are increasingly present in certain sectors, others, on the contrary, see a gradual disappearance of this organization. with the warmth of the oceans, Ocean currents become erratic and ocean layers build up Gradually, which means that theHot water no longer mixes easily with cold water.

If there are thousands of plankton species adapted to live in cold waters or warm waters, Global warming will inevitably cause some of them to disappear while others thrive or migrate to areas more suitable for their survival.thus creating Constantly growing contradictions By sectors.

However, these inconsistencies can lead to Disturbances in the marine food chainplankton falling at the base of this series and being essential to the survival of many ecosystems. SubsequentlySo scientists are interested in developing ways to more accurately monitor these gradual changes. in ecosystems in order to monitor climate change andCreate protected areas.

If this gradual change in ocean color is well visualized by simulations, then However, this comes much faster than originally planned. In particular because Global warming accelerated. If more work is needed to determine the exact effects of the color changes, this may still be the case A sign of global warming that has been accelerating for several years.