The sustained rise in ocean temperatures cost lives and caused billions of dollars in storm damage, increased whale and dolphin stranding risks, harmed commercial fishing and sparked global coral bleaching, according to the paper published yesterday in Nature Climate Change.
Like heatwaves on land, a marine heatwave is defined as a period of higher than normal temperature over a longer than usual time. The most recent of these were brought about by human-induced climate change and amplified by El Niño conditions, the report's authors said, with nearly 10% of the oceans hitting record high temperatures in 2023-24.
"The more regularly our marine ecosystems are being hit by marine heatwaves, the harder it is for them to recover from each event," said the lead author, Kathryn Smith from the UK's Marine Biological Association.
Higher ocean temperatures "supercharge" evaporation, the study said, fuelling storms such as Cyclone Gabrielle which hit New Zealand in February 2023, killing 11 people and costing an estimated NZ$14.5bn (about £6.5bn).
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