Record High Temperatures in the Ocean in 2024

Abstract Heating in the ocean has continued in 2024 in response to increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, despite the transition from an El Niño to neutral conditions. In 2024, both global sea surface temperature (SST) and upper 2000 m ocean heat content (OHC) reached unprecedented highs in the historical record. The 0–2000 m OHC in 2024 exceeded that of 2023 by 16 ± 8 ZJ (1 Zetta Joules = 10 21 Joules, with a 95% confidence interval) (IAP/CAS data), which is confirmed by two other data products: 18 ± 7 ZJ (CIGAR-RT reanalysis data) and 40 ± 31 ZJ (Copernicus Marine data, updated to November 2024). The Indian Ocean, tropical Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Ocean also experienced record-high OHC values in 2024. The global SST continued its record-high values from 2023 into the first half of 2024, and declined slightly in the second half of 2024, resulting in an annual mean of 0.61°C ± 0.02°C (IAP/CAS data) above the 1981–2010 baseline, slightly higher than the 2023 annual-mean value (by 0.07°C ± 0.02°C for IAP/CAS, 0.05°C ± 0.02°C for NOAA/NCEI, and 0.06°C ± 0.11°C for Copernicus Marine). The record-high values of 2024 SST and OHC continue to indicate unabated trends of global heating.

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Publication Details

Journal
Advances in Atmospheric Sciences
Published
2025-01-10
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-025-4541-3
Citations
48
Primary Topic
Climate variability and models
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
53.06

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article

Record High Temperatures in the Ocean in 2024

Flora Gues, Huai‐Min Zhang, John Abraham, Fei Zheng et al.
48 citations
Advances in Atmospheric Sciences
Climate variability and models
53.06
article

Record High Temperatures in the Ocean in 2024

Flora Gues, Huai‐Min Zhang, John Abraham, Fei Zheng, Karina von Schuckmann, Albertus Sulaiman, Andrea Storto, LI Guan-cheng, Zhanhong Ma, Ricardo Locarnini, Viktor Gouretski, Wangxu Wei, Zhetao Tan, Fujiang Yu, Fan Wang, Huizan Wang, Xingrong Chen, Tanguy Szekely, Kevin E. Trenberth, Yayang Lu, Juan Du, Rongwang Zhang, Chunxue Yang, Gengxin Chen, Franco Reseghetti, M. Mayer, Garrett Graham, Senliang Bao, Michael Mann, Simona Simoncelli, Yuying Pan, Zenghong Liu, Lijuan Cao, Qiuping Ren, Alexey Mishonov, Kewei Lyu, John Fasullo, Jiang Zhu, Lijing Cheng, Xiangzhou Song, Boyin Huang, Zeke Hausfather, Henqian Yan, Xu Liu, Bin Zhang, Yulong Liu, Yujing Zhu, Yuanlong Li, Liying Wan, Dakui Wang, Licheng Feng, Huifeng Yuan, Xungang Yin, J. O. REAGAN
article en
48 citations

Abstract

Abstract Heating in the ocean has continued in 2024 in response to increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, despite the transition from an El Niño to neutral conditions. In 2024, both global sea surface temperature (SST) and upper 2000 m ocean heat content (OHC) reached unprecedented highs in the historical record. The 0–2000 m OHC in 2024 exceeded that of 2023 by 16 ± 8 ZJ (1 Zetta Joules = 10 21 Joules, with a 95% confidence interval) (IAP/CAS data), which is confirmed by two other data products: 18 ± 7 ZJ (CIGAR-RT reanalysis data) and 40 ± 31 ZJ (Copernicus Marine data, updated to November 2024). The Indian Ocean, tropical Atlantic, Mediterranean Sea, North Atlantic, North Pacific, and Southern Ocean also experienced record-high OHC values in 2024. The global SST continued its record-high values from 2023 into the first half of 2024, and declined slightly in the second half of 2024, resulting in an annual mean of 0.61°C ± 0.02°C (IAP/CAS data) above the 1981–2010 baseline, slightly higher than the 2023 annual-mean value (by 0.07°C ± 0.02°C for IAP/CAS, 0.05°C ± 0.02°C for NOAA/NCEI, and 0.06°C ± 0.11°C for Copernicus Marine). The record-high values of 2024 SST and OHC continue to indicate unabated trends of global heating.

Advances in Atmospheric SciencesVol. 42(6)
NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US), University of Vienna (AT), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US), China Meteorological Administration (CN), University of Auckland (NZ), European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (GB), University of St. Thomas - Minnesota (US), Hohai University (CN), National University of Defense Technology (CN), Xiamen University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Ministry of Ecology and Environment (CN), Ministry of Natural Resources (CN), Meteorological, Climatological, And Geophysical Agency (ID), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (IT), Beijing Institute of Big Data Research (CN), Institute of Oceanology (CN), South China Sea Institute Of Oceanology (CN), Computer Network Information Center (CN), Second Institute of Oceanography (CN), Mercator Ocean (France) (FR), Shandong Marine Resource and Environment Research Institute (CN), National Research Council (RO), National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center (CN), Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CN), Océanopolis (FR), National Research Council (IT), NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (US), Profusa (United States) (US), Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites (US), University of Maryland, College Park (US), Ball (France) (FR), University of Pennsylvania (US), University of North Carolina at Asheville (US)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Austrian Science Fund, Nuclear Safety and Security Commission, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education, Nutrition Obesity Research Center, University of North Carolina, EarthLab, University of Washington
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Climate variability and models
53.06
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