Adverse impacts from climate change are a reality across the globe and the recent COP26 summit recognized that we are facing a global climate emergency. As we continue to track environmental change and its consequences, there is a growing need to realize and embrace opportunities for climate change resilience and adaptation. Our ocean is one of our best defense mechanisms against the impacts of climate change.

Mr Joe Aitaro, Palau side lead coordinator for the Humerica Areas on Climate Change, introduces one of the six Our Ocean panels which will feature climate change mitigation and adaptation success stories, as well as provide a platform to find and commit to the solutions we need for a climate change resilient future.

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With the effects of climate change becoming more and more visible, the marine world is set to face the brunt of ocean warming. The Indian Ocean witnessed six marine heatwaves in 2021 over a period of 52 days. The situation was grim in the Bay of Bengal, which suffered four of the six weather-related events.

The information was released by Minister of Science & Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Thursday indicating the rampant impact of climate change on oceans surrounding the country. "These heatwaves did not break all previous records but were above normal. The western Indian Ocean heatwaves in 2021 were in the top four years in terms of the number of events," the minister said in his reply.

The weather-related incident is not a single event and the tropical Indian Ocean has been facing the brunt of rising temperatures for decades. The minister informed that the western Indian Ocean region experienced a four-fold rise in marine heatwave events (increasing at a rate of 1.5 events per decade) and the North Bay of Bengal experienced a two-to-three-fold rise (at a rate of 0.5 events per decade).

"In recent decades, the tropical Indian Ocean has experienced a rapid increase in ocean warming with an average rise in Sea Surface Temperature (SST) of about 1-degree Celsius over the period of 1951-2015 at a rate of 0.15 degrees Celsius per decade," The Ministry of Science & Technology said in a statement.

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Ocean Protocol (OCEAN) traded up 3.9% against the dollar during the 24 hour period ending at 0:00 AM E.T. on March 27th. Ocean Protocol has a market cap of $382.23 million and $56.87 million worth of Ocean Protocol was traded on exchanges in the last day. During the last seven days, Ocean Protocol has traded up 20.9% against the dollar. One Ocean Protocol coin can now be bought for about $0.62 or 0.00001328 BTC on exchanges.

Here’s how similar cryptocurrencies have performed during the last day:

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Over four years ago, on November 28, when meteorologists detected a low-pressure system forming over the southwest Bay of Bengal, they initiated their four-stage action plan and released an advisory. But even before the weather department could issue a cyclone watch warning, the system quickly intensified from a ‘deep depression’ into a cyclonic storm and unleashed its fury on the coastal districts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the Lakshadweep Islands.

Clearly, Cyclone Ockhi was an unusual phenomenon. Unlike any other cyclone before, it did not just rapidly intensify but also left the scientists bewildered with its long gestation period. It developed in the sea for 6.7 days, much longer than the average life of 4.7 days observed for ‘very severe cyclonic storms’ that had occurred over the north Indian Ocean (the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea) until 2017. And, both these peculiarities put the scientists on alert of what was likely in the near future.

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University of Sydney scientists have used the geological record of the deep sea to discover that past global warming has sped up deep ocean circulation. This is one of the missing links for predicting how future climate change may affect heat and carbon capture by the oceans.

University of Sydney scientists have used the geological record of the deep sea to discover that past global warming has sped up deep ocean circulation.This is one of the missing links for predicting how future climate change may affect heat and carbon capture by the oceans: more vigorous ocean currents make it easier for carbon and heat to be "mixed in."

"So far, the ocean has absorbed a quarter of anthropogenic CO2 and over 90 percent of the associated excess heat," said the study's lead author, Dr. Adriana Dutkiewicz from the EarthByte group in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney.

Microscopic marine organisms called plankton use this dissolved carbon to build their shells. They sink down to the seabed after they die, sequestering the carbon. These sedimentary deposits form the Earth's largest carbon sink.

The authors note that climate observations and models have been used alternatively to argue that deep ocean circulation may be slowing down or speeding up during global warming. This inconsistency is a problem for modeling future climate trends and the new study, published today in the journal Geology, helps resolve this controversy.

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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention added just one new destination to its highest-risk category for travel on Monday -- and it's again an Indian Ocean island nation.

Moved up to Level 4 is Madagascar. Off the southeastern coast of Africa, it's known for its unique wildlife, including lemurs, and for being the world's fourth-largest island.

Last week, the much smaller Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius was the only destination added to Level 4. It remained at Level 4 this week, too.

The CDC places a destination at "Level 4: Covid-19 Very High" risk when more than 500 cases per 100,000 residents are registered in the past 28 days.

Madagascar resided at "Level 3: Covid-19 High" risk last week.

There are now about 120 destinations at Level 4. While the number of places in the "very high" risk category has been dropping since peaking around 140 in February, there are still more places in the Level 4 category than in all the other categories combined.

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