Climate science, over the past few decades, especially since the turn of the new century, has increasingly identified trouble spots with ecosystems that support life on Earth. These crucial ecosystems are stressed.
But not many of the scientific reports of the past couple of decades compares to a bone-chilling new study of massive ocean heat accumulation in the year 2025, published January 14th, 2026, ScienceDaily: The Ocean Absorbed a Stunning Amount of Heat in 2025. Sources: Institute of Atmospheric Physics and Chinese Academy of Sciences.
That report lays out stark details: “In 2025 alone, the ocean gained 23 Zetta Joules (23,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 Joules of energy, of heat). That amount of energy is roughly equal to about 37 years of total global primary energy use at 2023 levels (~620 Exa Joules per year). The findings are based on work by more than 50 scientists representing 31 research institutions across the globe.”
In other words, it is equivalent to every power plant, every car, every light bulb, and every device on Earth continuously in use for 37 years. This is how much extra heat the oceans absorbed in 2025, in one year!
The ocean is Earth’s primary heat sink absorbing 90% of extra heat trapped by greenhouse gases like CO2 emitted by burning fossil fuels by people filling up cars at local gas stations. As such, ocean heat content (OHC) is the most reliable measure of long-term climate change. The question therefore arises, how much heat content can the oceans absorb and what happens when it’s excessive, like it is right now?
OHC has been setting new records, every year, for nine consecutive years. The consequences are spelled out in the study: “Warmer ocean surfaces increase evaporation and rainfall, making storms more intense and extreme weather events more likely. In 2025, these effects contributed to severe flooding and disruption across much of Southeast Asia, prolonged drought in the Middle East, and flooding in Mexico and the Pacific Northwest.” In other words, regardless of the event, it’s extreme, which is the fingerprint of global warming.
CO2 Impact on Oceans: “The primary impact of human-generated carbon dioxide emissions on the ocean is the rapid warming of ocean waters, which significantly reduces the ocean’s capacity to hold oxygen – a critical lifeline for species survival. Rising temperatures also drive ocean acidification – weakening marine organisms, disrupting ecosystems, altering the physiology of numerous species, and triggering mass die-offs.” (World’s Oceans Hit Record Heat in 2025 at Great Economic and Social Costs, Global Issues, UN Bureau Report, Jan 22, 2026)
“This year may be remembered as one of the gravest for marine mammals on record. Or, more worryingly, a sign that our ocean environment is changing so drastically that in some places and seasons, it’s becoming uninhabitable for the life it holds.” (Marine Mammals are Dying in Record Numbers Along the California Coast, LA Times, October 3, 2025).
This article is excerpted from: ‘Ocean Heat Goes Ballistic’. Courtesy: Counterpunch.org
