In the latest scientific study, researchers have revealed some shocking facts about the world’s oceans that could lead to the worst climate crises or extreme weather events.
A team of international scientists revealed on Friday January 9, 2026 that the world’s oceans had absorbed a record amount of heat by 2025, reports AFP.
The alarming situation had created a prerequisite for sea level rise, violent storms and coral death.
The heat that accumulated in the oceans last year increased by about 23 zettajoules – an amount equivalent to almost four decades of global primary energy consumption.
According to researchers, the latest findings have been published in the journal Advances in the atmospheric sciences– the highest value ever since modern recording began in the early 1950s.
To derive these calculations, more than 50 scientists from 31 research institutions used multiple sources, including a thousands-strong fleet of floating robots that monitor changes in the ocean to depths of 2,000 meters.
Study co-author Karina von Schuckmann said that “looking into the depths, rather than the fluctuations at the surface, provides a better indicator of how the oceans are responding to the continued pressure of human emissions.”
Von, oceanographer at the French research institute Mercator Ocean International, explains AFP that: “The picture is clear and the results for 2025 confirm that the ocean continues to warm.”
According to scientists, oceans are an important regulator of Earth’s climate because they absorb 90 percent of the excess heat in the atmosphere caused by human emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide.
All that extra energy has a powerful domino effect as warmer oceans increase moisture levels in the atmosphere, fueling tropical cyclones and devastating rainfall.
Researchers inform that hotter seas also directly contribute to sea level rise, as water expands as it warms and conditions become unbearable for tropical reefs, whose corals perish during prolonged marine heat waves. “As long as the Earth continues to accumulate heat, the heat content of the oceans will continue to rise, sea levels will rise and new records will be set,” von Schuckmann said.
The tropical oceans, the South Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, the Northern Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean were among the waters that absorbed record amounts of heat in 2025.
This happened even as the average sea surface temperature dropped slightly in 2025, but still remained the third highest value ever recorded.
This decline is explained by the shift from a strong, warming El Nino event in 2023-2024 to La Nina-like conditions typically associated with a temporary cooling of the ocean surface.
In the long term, ocean warming is accelerating due to a continued increase in greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, mainly caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Until global warming is addressed and the amount of heat trapped in the atmosphere continues to rise, the oceans will continue to break records, the researchers said.
“The greatest uncertainty in the climate system is no longer physics, but the choices humanity makes,” said Von Schuckmann.
“Rapid emissions reductions can still limit future impacts and help secure a climate where societies and ecosystems can thrive,” Von added.
