<
https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2024-02-06/sponge-skeleltons-show-earth-may-be-1-7c-warmer-already/103411646>
"Stationary sea sponges are sparking debate in the climate science world with
new research into the underwater creatures suggesting the planet could be a lot
hotter than we thought.
The world's nations have been committed for the past decade to keeping global
warming well under an average 2 degrees Celsius increase, compared with
temperatures before the Industrial Revolution.
But establishing exactly what temperatures were in the pre-industrial 1700s has
been difficult.
Now scientists behind a new paper in
Nature Climate Change say they have an
answer.
They found that Caribbean sea sponge skeletons have effectively recorded
temperatures for about 300 years, giving us an idea of both past and future
temperatures.
The findings, based off six samples of the sclerosponge species
Ceratoporella
nicholsoni from Puerto Rico, suggest the planet may already be 1.7C warmer,
based on the average surface temperature of both the ocean and land.
This is half a degree higher than the recent 10-year average of 1.2 C of
warming reported by the World Meteorological Organisation since pre-industrial
times.
The 1.7C of warming reported in the new research would put Earth beyond the
preferred international policy of limiting the temperature increase to 1.5C.
And the researchers behind the sponge work warn the world could be on track to
2C of warming by the end of this decade."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
