What role does the ocean play in the climate system?

The ocean is an important link in the global climate system. It plays a decisive role in regulating and stabilizing the climate by exchanging energy and materials with the atmosphere and water cycle, and is called the "regulator" of the earth's climate.

The ocean, which accounts for 7 1% of the earth's area, is the main provider of atmospheric heat. If the global surface seawater with a thickness of 100 m cools 1 celsius, the released heat can warm the global atmosphere by 60 celsius.

The ocean is also the main source of water vapor in the atmosphere. When seawater evaporates, it will bring a lot of water vapor from the ocean into the atmosphere. The evaporation of the ocean accounts for about 84% of the total evaporation, and 3.6 trillion cubic meters of water can be converted into steam every year. Therefore, the thermal state and evaporation of the ocean directly affect the content and distribution of heat and water vapor in the atmosphere.

At the same time, the ocean absorbs 40% of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which is considered as one of the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.

On the other hand, climate change has also had a great impact on the ocean. Rising temperature leads to rising sea level and seawater temperature, and excessive absorption of carbon dioxide by the ocean leads to acidification of seawater, which has caused damage to marine and coastal ecosystems. It is considered to be the root of a series of problems such as coral bleaching, coral reef death and island flooding. Take Indonesia as an example. The Minister of Ocean Affairs and Fisheries said that many islands in Indonesia will sink into the sea in the coming decades due to rising sea levels. The environmentalist Ovi of the University of Queensland in Australia also published a report saying that if we don't act immediately, the coral reefs on the earth will all disappear by the end of this century.

In addition, climate change has also changed the marine climate patterns and ocean currents, thus increasing the degree of marine disasters. In particular, the backward flow of seawater after acidification will have a great impact on estuaries, estuaries and other ecosystems after entering the land. Dr. Zhou Zhigang, an expert from the Department of Marine Science and Technology of the State Oceanic Administration of China, said that as far as China is concerned, it is very important to prevent and mitigate marine disasters and carry out marine engineering because most economically developed cities are concentrated in coastal areas.