A new study published in Nature Climate Change finds the number of annual ocean heat wave days across the planted increased by around 54% between 1987 and 2016. This spike was accompanied by bouts of very high temperatures not only occurring more frequently, but also lasting for longer periods of time. This article in the Smithsonian discusses this study, which found that marine heat waves, which will probably intensify with anthropogenic climate change, are rapidly emerging as forceful agents of disturbance with the capacity to restructure entire ecosystems.
By Meilan Solly, smithsonian.com, March 5, 2019
