Synopsis: The Straits Times analyses the beat of the changing environment, from biodiversity conservation to climate change.

One of the most important climate change indicators is one that rarely gets headlines -ocean temperatures. Yet, the world’s oceans are heating up, absorbing huge amounts of energy caused by global warming.

Last year was the hottest for the world's oceans in recorded human history, according to a study led by an international team of scientists who track the data. It was the sixth consecutive record year. What does this mean for humanity and why should we be concerned?

In this episode, The Straits Times environment correspondent Audrey Tan and climate change editor David Fogarty discuss the growing alarm over hotter oceans with Dr Kevin Trenberth, from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder Colorado. 

Highlights (click/tap above):

1:15 How hot have oceans become?

5:25 How much could global temperatures have risen without the oceans; human activities causing ocean acidification 

8:26 Implications of a warmer ocean for marine biodiversity? 

9:23 What about sea level rise and storms? 

12:58 How long will the ocean retain the heat for? 

Read more on the study: https://str.sg/wdjW

Produced by: Audrey Tan ([email protected]), David Fogarty ([email protected]), Ernest Luis, Fa'izah Sani and Hadyu Rahim

Edited by: Hadyu Rahim

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Read ST's Climate Code Red site: https://str.sg/3pSz

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