Feeling Hot? So Is The Entire North Atlantic Ocean, And It’s Starting To Get Weird

My editor informed me that articles perform better with a personal, slightly provocative angle. I am a climatologist. I spend my days analyzing datasets that graph the thermal death of our planet’s primary heat sink. The only thing I feel qualified to be provocative about is the oceanic heat content, which, according to the latest NOAA buoy readings, has surpassed all previous records for the 14th consecutive month. So, yes, the Atlantic is very, very hot. And unlike your favorite influencer’s latest vacation photos, this is not a good thing.

The upper 2,000 meters of the ocean have absorbed approximately 282 Zetajoules of excess energy since the 1970s. For those of you who don't spend your nights weeping over IPCC assessment reports, a Zetajoule is 10 to the 21st power Joules. This is a quantity of energy so vast it defies intuitive comparison, but let’s try: it is the equivalent of hundreds of millions of atomic bomb detonations. This is not a model projection. This is a direct, instrument-verified measurement of the heat our civilization, primarily through the fossil fuel combustion championed by entities like ExxonMobil and the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco), has forced into the global climate system.

This sustained thermal load is creating marine heatwaves of unprecedented intensity. Off the coast of Newfoundland, sea surface temperatures are currently fluctuating at 4°C to 5°C above the 1991-2020 baseline average. This is a 'Category 5' marine heatwave, a term we had to invent just a few years ago. The immediate biological consequences are catastrophic and ongoing. We are observing mass die-offs of copepods and other foundational zooplankton, which is akin to deleting the bottom two-thirds of the entire marine food pyramid. The cod fisheries, which have defined the region for 500 years, are not 'struggling'—they are experiencing a complete reproductive collapse. The food is simply gone.

It is a uniquely soul-crushing experience to write these sentences while knowing this article is algorithmically positioned next to an advertisement for a 'tactical flashlight' that is almost certainly just a regular flashlight painted black. The causal chain is not complex. The Climate Accountability Institute’s research clearly attributes over 70% of all industrial greenhouse gas emissions since 1988 to just 100 corporate producers. Companies like Chevron and BP have not only been primary agents of this planetary destabilization, but have also invested hundreds of millions of dollars, as documented by countless journalistic and academic investigations, into campaigns of public disinformation to delay any meaningful response.

So, by all means, enjoy the photo my editors selected for this article. I’m told it tests well for engagement. Meanwhile, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) continues to show signs of critical slowdown under the strain of freshwater influx and thermal disruption. But I’m sure that’s less interesting than the new lineup of AI-powered blenders. I have to go lie down now.