Oceans are no longer blue: Study finds 56% of water has become greener due to climate change
Changing Seas: More than half of Earth's oceans have changed color in the past 20 years - and experts say it's the fault of global warming. Satellite data from 2002 to 2022 shows an increasing proliferation of plant-like microbes. blooms drain oxygen as they decay, creating ocean 'dead zones' READ MORE: Dead zone larger than Scotland 'choking' Arabian Sea
More than half of the world's oceans world have developed a green tint over the past two decades, according to a study.
Measurements of ocean surface color taken by satellite over the past 20 years have revealed an explosion in the growth of phytoplankton, the plant-like microbes common to the upper ocean.
While many of these microscopic organisms, including green algae, absorb carbon dioxide as they harvest solar energy, their "scum pond"-like population boom has helped smother "zones dead" oxygen depleted around the world.
The color change is subtle to the human eye, but NASA-run satellite equipment has confirmed that over 56% of the world's oceans - a vast area larger than the Earth's total landmass has become greener.
"To see it actually happen," according to study co-author Stephanie Dutkiewicz, principal investigator and climate modeler at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), "not surprising, but frightening".
"These changes", she said, "are compatible with the human-induced changes in climate.'
More than half of the world's oceans world have developed a green tint over the past two decades, according to a study.
Measurements of ocean surface color taken by satellite over the past 20 years have revealed an explosion in the growth of phytoplankton, the plant-like microbes common to the upper ocean.
While many of these microscopic organisms, including green algae, absorb carbon dioxide as they harvest solar energy, their "scum pond"-like population boom has helped smother "zones dead" oxygen depleted around the world.
The color change is subtle to the human eye, but NASA-run satellite equipment has confirmed that over 56% of the world's oceans - a vast area larger than the Earth's total landmass has become greener.
"To see it actually happen," according to study co-author Stephanie Dutkiewicz, principal investigator and climate modeler at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), "not surprising, but frightening".
"These changes", she said, "are compatible with the human-induced changes in climate.'
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