Results are in for one of the clearest measures of global heating in 2025. It should be raising alarm bells
World’s oceans absorb more heat in 2025 than any other year
- In 2025, the world's oceans absorbed more heat than in any year since modern records began, indicating a significant acceleration of global warming.
- Ocean heat content increased by 23 zettajoules, an amount comparable to detonating hundreds of millions of Hiroshima atomic bombs, or 200 times humanity's global electricity consumption in 2023.
- Scientists regard ocean heat content as one of the clearest measures of long-term global warming, as oceans absorb over 90 per cent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases.
- The warming is not uniform, with specific regions such as parts of the tropical and South Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Ocean experiencing record-high heat content.
- Warmer oceans are intensifying global weather patterns, contributing to more extreme events including tropical cyclones, heavy rainfall, droughts, sea-level rise, and marine heatwaves.