Most people have experienced a heat wave on land. But heat waves can strike in the ocean too. And as the planet continues to warm, marine heat waves are growing longer and deadlier, hurting the seafood supply that billions of people worldwide rely on for their food and livelihoods.
Researchers at Michigan State University say a controversial strategy to shield Earth from some of the sun’s rays would offer unequal protection for the oceans and communities that depend on them, leaving 25% to 75% of the world’s seas still at risk from overheating, models suggest.
The findings appear in the journal Environmental Research: Climate.
First author Lala Kounta started studying marine heat waves in 2020, when unusually warm waters off the coast of Senegal where she grew up triggered a toxic algal bloom that made hundreds of fishermen sick.