Each year, the world’s leading climate scientists evaluate the most critical evidence on how our planet is changing. Their assessments draw heavily on data from Earth-observing satellites—and the latest 10 New Insights in Climate Science report delivers a stark warning: the planet’s energy balance is drifting further out of alignment, oceans are warming at unprecedented rates, and the land’s capacity to absorb carbon is declining, along with other troubling trends.
Insight No 2 highlights that marine heatwaves are becoming more intense and prolonged. These changes are causing severe ecosystem damage, undermining coastal livelihoods, increasing extreme weather risks and weakening the ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon.
The accompanying image depicts sea-surface temperature anomalies in the Mediterranean Sea for August 2023 relative to 1985-2005 and highlights two cases of biodiversity loss.
Image Credit: Contains modified Copernicus Marine Service data (CNR, Buongiorno et. al.), processed by ESA
