IRD / Joël Orempuller

Increasing ocean temperatures are unquestionably due to human activity, said researchers at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) yesterday (17 February).

Tim Barnett, of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego, United States, said the effects of rising sea temperatures during the next 30 to 40 years would be "severe" for countries worldwide.

Barnett presented unpublished results of climate modelling experiments that show that the warming of the world's oceans is due to human activities that emit greenhouse gases. The models ruled out solar or volcanic activity as potential causes.

According to Barnett, the results should put an end to any debate on whether human-induced global warming is real.

Link to the full news article in the AAAS news archive