The Oceans Just Keep Getting Hotter
WIRED••science
Key Points:
- In 2025, the world’s oceans absorbed a record-breaking 23 zettajoules of heat, marking the eighth consecutive year of rising ocean heat content, according to a study published in Advances in Atmospheric Science by over 50 international scientists.
- This amount of heat absorption is equivalent to the energy released by 12 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding in the ocean, highlighting the immense scale of heat trapped by the oceans due to climate change.
- Oceans absorb more than 90% of excess atmospheric heat, with much of this heat penetrating deeper layers rather than just warming the surface, which explains why sea surface temperature increases can sometimes appear modest despite significant overall ocean warming.
- The study utilized a combination of historical data, modern measurements
