New Record Ocean Temperatures and Related Climate Indicators in 2023

The global physical and biogeochemical environment has been substantially altered in response to increased atmospheric greenhouse gases from human activities.In 2023,the sea surface temperature(SST)and upper 2000 m ocean heat content(OHC)reached record highs.The 0–2000 m OHC in 2023 exceeded that of 2022 by 15±10 ZJ(1 Zetta Joules=1021 Joules)(updated IAP/CAS data);9±5 ZJ(NCEI/NOAA data).The Tropical Atlantic Ocean,the Mediterranean Sea,and southern oceans recorded their highest OHC observed since the 1950s.Associated with the onset of a strong El Niño,the global SST reached its record high in 2023 with an annual mean of~0.23℃ higher than 2022 and an astounding>0.3℃ above 2022 values for the second half of 2023.The density stratification and spatial temperature inhomogeneity indexes reached their highest values in 2023.

Another Record: Ocean Warming Continues through 2021 despite La Nina Conditions

The increased concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from human activities traps heat within the climate system and increases ocean heat content(OHC). Here, we provide the first analysis of recent OHC changes through 2021 from two international groups. The world ocean, in 2021, was the hottest ever recorded by humans, and the 2021 annual OHC value is even higher than last year’s record value by 14 ± 11 ZJ(1 zetta J = 1021 J) using the IAP/CAS dataset and by16 ± 10 ZJ using NCEI/NOAA dataset. The long-term ocean warming is larger in the Atlantic and Southern Oceans than in other regions and is mainly attributed, via climate model simulations, to an increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations. The year-to-year variation of OHC is primarily tied to the El Nino-Southern Oscillation(ENSO). In the seven maritime domains of the Indian, Tropical Atlantic, North Atlantic, Northwest Pacific, North Pacific, Southern oceans,and the Mediterranean Sea, robust warming is observed but with distinct inter-annual to decadal variability. Four out of seven domains showed record-high heat content in 2021. The anomalous global and regional ocean warming established in this study should be incorporated into climate risk assessments, adaptation, and mitigation.

Record-Setting Ocean Warmth Continued in 2019

Human-emitted greenhouse gases(GHGs)have resulted in a long-term and unequivocal warming of the planet(IPCC,2019).More than 90%of the excess heat is stored within the world's oceans,where it accumulates and causes increases in ocean temperature(Rhein et al.,2013;Abram et al.,2019).

2017 was the Warmest Year on Record for the Global Ocean

2017 was the warmest year on record for the global ocean according to an updated Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences （IAR CAS： http：//english. iap.cas.cn/） ocean analysis.

Twenty years of ocean observations with China Argo

The international Argo program,a global observational array of nearly 4000 autonomous profiling floats initiated in the late 1990s,which measures the water temperature and salinity of the upper 2000 m of the global ocean,has revolutionized oceanography.It has been recognized one of the most successful ocean observation systems in the world.Today,the proposed decade action“OneArgo”for building an integrated global,full-depth,and multidisciplinary ocean observing array for beyond 2020 has been endorsed.In the past two decades since 2002,with more than 500 Argo deployments and 80 operational floats currently,China has become an important partner of the Argo program.Two DACs have been established to process the data reported from all Chinese floats and deliver these data to the GDACs in real time,adhering to the unified quality control procedures proposed by the Argo Data Management Team.Several Argo products have been developed and released,allowing accurate estimations of global ocean warming,sea level change and the hydrological cycle,at interannual to decadal scales.In addition,Deep and BGC-Argo floats have been deployed,and time series observations from these floats have proven to be extremely useful,particularly in the analysis of synoptic-scale to decadal-scale dynamics.The future aim of China Argo is to build and maintain a regional Argo fleet comprising approximately 400 floats in the northwestern Pacific,South China Sea,and Indian Ocean,accounting for 9%of the global fleet,in addition to maintaining 300 Deep Argo floats in the global ocean(25%of the global Deep Argo fleet).A regional BGC-Argo array in the western Pacific also needs to be established and maintained.

Another Year of Record Heat for the Oceans

Changes in ocean heat content(OHC), salinity, and stratification provide critical indicators for changes in Earth’s energy and water cycles. These cycles have been profoundly altered due to the emission of greenhouse gasses and other anthropogenic substances by human activities, driving pervasive changes in Earth’s climate system. In 2022, the world’s oceans, as given by OHC, were again the hottest in the historical record and exceeded the previous 2021 record maximum.According to IAP/CAS data, the 0–2000 m OHC in 2022 exceeded that of 2021 by 10.9 ± 8.3 ZJ(1 Zetta Joules = 1021Joules);and according to NCEI/NOAA data, by 9.1 ± 8.7 ZJ. Among seven regions, four basins(the North Pacific, North Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea, and southern oceans) recorded their highest OHC since the 1950s. The salinity-contrast index, a quantification of the “salty gets saltier–fresh gets fresher” pattern, also reached its highest level on record in 2022,implying continued amplification of the global hydrological cycle. Regional OHC and salinity changes in 2022 were dominated by a strong La Ni?a event. Global upper-ocean stratification continued its increasing trend and was among the top seven in 2022.

The ocean response to climate change guides both adaptation and mitigation efforts

The ocean’s thermal inertia is a major contributor to irreversible ocean changes exceeding time scales that matter to human society.This fact is a challenge to societies as they prepare for the consequences of climate change,especially with respect to the ocean.Here the authors review the requirements for human actions from the ocean’s perspective.In the near term(∼2030),goals such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)will be critical.Over longer times(∼2050–2060 and beyond),global carbon neutrality targets may be met as countries continue to work toward reducing emissions.Both adaptation and mitigation plans need to be fully implemented in the interim,and the Global Ocean Observation System should be sustained so that changes can be continuously monitored.In the longer-term(after∼2060),slow emerging changes such as deep ocean warming and sea level rise are committed to continue even in the scenario where net zero emissions are reached.Thus,climate actions have to extend to time scales of hundreds of years.At these time scales,preparation for“high impact,low probability”risks—such as an abrupt showdown of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation,ecosystem change,or irreversible ice sheet loss—should be fully integrated into long-term planning.

Upper Ocean Temperatures Hit Record High in 2020

The long-term warming of the ocean is a critical indicator of both the past and present state of the climate system. It also provides insights about the changes to come, owing to the persistence of both decadal variations and secular trends,which the ocean records extremely well(Hansen et al., 2011;IPCC, 2013;Rhein et al., 2013;Trenberth et al., 2016;Abram et al., 2019).

2018 Continues Record Global Ocean Warming

The increasing heat-trapping gases emitted by human activities into the atmosphere produce an energy imbalance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing longwave radiation that leads to global heating(Rhein et al.,2013;Trenberth et al.,2014;von Schuckmann et al.,2016).The vast majority of global warming heat ends up deposited in the world’s oceans,and ocean heat content(OHC)change is one of the best—if not the best—metric for climate change(Cheng et al.,2019).In 2018,continued record heat was measured in the Earth’s climate system.In fact,2018 has set a new record of ocean heating,surpassing 2017,which was the previous warmest year ever recorded(Cheng et al.,2018)(Fig.1).

How Well Do CMIP6 and CMIP5 Models Simulate the Climatological Seasonal Variations in Ocean Salinity?

This paper includes a comprehensive assessment of 40 models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5(CMIP5)and 33 models from the CMIP phase 6(CMIP6)to determine the climatological and seasonal variation of ocean salinity from the surface to 2000 m.The general pattern of the ocean salinity climatology can be simulated by both the CMIP5 and CMIP6 models from the surface to 2000-m depth.However,this study shows an increased fresh bias in the surface and subsurface salinity in the CMIP6 multimodel mean,with a global average of−0.44 g kg^(−1) for the sea surface salinity(SSS)and−0.26 g kg^(−1) for the 0-1000-m averaged salinity(S1000)compared with the CMIP5 multimodel mean(−0.25 g kg^(−1) for the SSS and−0.07 g kg^(−1) for the S1000).In terms of the seasonal variation,both CMIP6 and CMIP5 models show positive(negative)anomalies in the first(second)half of the year in the global average SSS and S1000.The model-simulated variation in SSS is consistent with the observations,but not for S1000,suggesting a substantial uncertainty in simulating and understanding the seasonal variation in subsurface salinity.The CMIP5 and CMIP6 models overestimate the magnitude of the seasonal variation of the SSS in the tropics in the region 20°S-20°N but underestimate the magnitude of the seasonal change in S1000 in the Atlantic and Indian oceans.These assessments show new features of the model errors in simulating ocean salinity and support further studies of the global hydrological cycle.

An Observing System Simulation Experiment to Assess the Potential Impact of a Virtual Mobile Communication Tower–based Observation Network on Weather Forecasting Accuracy in China. Part 1: Weather Stations with a Typical Mobile Tower Height of 40 m

The importance of a national or regional network of meteorological stations for improving weather predictions has been recognized for many years.Ground-based automatic weather stations typically observe weather at a height of 2-10 m above ground level(AGL);however,these observations may have two major shortcomings.Large portions of data cannot be used if the station height is significantly lower than the model surface level;and such observations may contain large representativity errors as near-surface observations are often affected by the local environment,such as nearby buildings and tall trees.With the recent introduction of a significant number of mobile communication towers that are typically over40 m AGL in China,a campaign has been proposed to use such towers to build a future observing system with an observing height of 40 m.A series of observing system simulation experiments has been conducted to assess the potential utility of such a future observing system as part of a feasibility study.The experiments were conducted using the Weather Research and Forecasting model and its Rapid Update Cycle data assimilation system.The results revealed the possibility of improving weather forecasting by raising present weather stations to a height of 40 m;this would not only enable more observations to pass the terrain check,but should also reduce interpolation errors.Additionally,improvements for temperature,humidity and wind forecasting could be achieved as the accuracy of the initial conditions increases.

Quality control for ocean observations: From present to future

The quality control(QC) of ocean observational data, essential to establish a high-quality global ocean database, is one of the basic data pre-processing steps in oceanography research, marine monitoring, and forecasting. With the introduction of various advanced instruments in recent decades, oceanographic surveys have expanded from coastal regions to open oceans.However, as ocean in-situ observations are obtained using different instruments that offer heterogeneous data qualities, it is paramount that bad data could be accurately and efficiently identified via QC to provide a reliable global ocean database. In this review, we briefly summarize the latest progress of QC for oceanic in-situ observations, and mainly focus on temperature and salinity data. The similarities and differences between QC schemes developed by various ocean organizations are introduced. We also discuss the performances of the various QC schemes and identify the key challenges. Based on the discussions, several recommendations are proposed for future improvements in the QC for ocean observations.