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Esther Chou
Ms. Das
English Composition (WR_121_403_W2017)
Due Thu 23rd Feb
The Effects of Climate Change on the Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean plays a major role in the effects of climate change, and understanding
those effects, because of its role in heat retention, the presence of the Maldives, and because it is
the warmest and third largest ocean in the world. The Indian Ocean may hold most of all heat
absorbed by the upper ocean in the past decade. It contains the Republic of Maldives, a
frontrunner for observing the effects of climate change. As the warmest ocean and one of the
major oceans in the world, it affects the weather of the Maldives, Australia, Indonesia and
eastern Africa. Oceans play a critical role in both short and long term weather and climatic
patterns.
Scientists have long suspected that oceans have played a crucial role in the so-called
warming hiatus by storing heat trapped in the atmosphere by rising levels of greenhouse gases.
Nearly 90 percent of extra heat generated due to emission of greenhouse gases is absorbed by
oceans, warming them up. The Indian Ocean, considered one of the most productive seas, has
seen warming greater than other oceans. The Indian Ocean may hold more than 70% of all the
heat. The warming in the Indian Ocean during the past century has been estimated up to 1.2
degrees Celsius, which is significant compared to a global surface warming of up to 0.8 degrees
Celsius during the same period. A significant amount of heat moves from the atmosphere into the
Pacific Ocean, where La Niña-like conditions have dominated since the turn of the century. As a
result, wind patterns and ocean currents have increased the drawdown of warm surface waters in
the subtropics. Temperature data compiled by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration’s (NOAA) World Ocean Atlas (WOA) suggest that the upper 700 metres of the
Pacific have cooled in recent years. The results of a study conducted by Sang-Ki Lee, an
oceanographer at the University of Miami in Florida and his colleagues suggest that easterly
trade winds have strengthened during the hiatus, causing warm water to pile up in the western
Pacific. The water seeps between the islands of Indonesia and into the Indian Ocean, bringing
heat with it. This surge of water produces dramatic warming in the upper Indian Ocean starting
in the early 2000s, in agreement with the WOA data, the authors write. This explanation also fits
with measurements of flow through the largest Indonesian channel — the Makassar Strait —
which increased over the same period of time. While some scientists disagree with the results of
studies that use alternatives to the WOA data. For example, Kevin Trenberth, also a climate
scientist at NCAR, found pronounced Pacific warming during the hiatus and only modest
