A continued record-breaking ocean temperature with increasing in stratification and changes in water salinity pattern give insight into what the future holds amidst a perpetually heating climate. The state of our oceans can measure the world’s health, and judging by the updated oceanic observations from 24 scientists across 16 institutes worldwide, we need a doctor. The three key indicators of climate change include continued historical record-breaking temperatures, all-time high levels of ocean salinity-contrast, and increased ocean stratification (separation of the water into layers) with no signs of slowing down. This webinar will present the key methodologies, findings of ocean changes in 2022 and discuss the implications for the society and ecosystems. The speakers and presentations include:

Lijing Cheng:

Title: Another year of record heat for the oceans

Lijing Cheng is a professor at Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science. His researches focus on monitoring the ocean changes and understanding the associated mechanisms, including ocean heat content, ocean salinity and stratification changes. He has published more than 80 papers, with a total citation of ~5900 times. Lijing was awarded to “International Data Prize” by WCRP/GCOS, and “XIE Yibing Young Meteorologist Award” in 2020; The Nicholas P. Fofonoff Award from AMS in 2022. He served as a Lead Author for IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.

Tim Boyer:

Title: Observations to climate indicator: calculating ocean heat content and related variables from in situ measurements

Tim Boyer is an oceanographer for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administrations National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).  He has spent more than 25 years at NCEI and its predecessor the U. S. National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) working with historic and recent in situ ocean subsurface profile data to construct time series of ocean variables at a global and regional scale to understand the changing ocean environment and its effects on the global climate system with an emphasis on physical variables ocean heat content (temperature), freshwater content (salinity).

Kevin Trenberth:

Title: Ocean-atmosphere interactions and consequences

Kevin E. Trenberth is a Distinguished Scholar at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and he is an affiliate faculty at the University of Auckland in New Zealand.   He has been prominent in most of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientific assessments of Climate Change and has also extensively served the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) in numerous ways, most recently as chair of the WCRP Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) project.  He is a fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the American Association for Advancement of Science, the American Geophysical Union, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand. He has published over 590 articles or books and many articles/blogs, and is one of the most cited scientists in his field.  

Modulator: John Abraham.

John Abraham is a thermal scientist at the University of St. Thomas, in the USA.  He works on ocean temperature measurements and its impact on society and weather.  He also has started a company that pasteurizes water in the developing world and he has designed wind turbines and other renewable energy systems. Dr. Abraham has been featured over 300 times in the media discussing climate-related issues and he wrote for the Guardian for four years.