Unprecedented heat in the ocean #
The world’s oceans are currently in an exceptional state. What are the reasons for this, and what impact does it have on Switzerland? Ocean researcher Thomas Frölicher of the University of Bern explains.
Interview and video: Arian Bastani and Nevio Heimberg
Read the original uniAKTUELL article here (in German).
“Marine heatwaves are often very harmful to marine ecosystems,” explains Thomas Frölicher. They can lead to increased mortality among birds, fish and marine mammals, as well as to harmful algal blooms. “Marine heatwaves also cause coral bleaching, push fish communities towards cooler waters and often contribute to a sharp decline in sea ice and to the intensification of tropical cyclones,” the researcher says.
How did the heatwave in the Atlantic come about? How will it develop, and what impact will it have on Switzerland? Ocean researcher Thomas Frölicher provides answers.
Global warming does increase the frequency of heatwaves such as the current one in the north-east Atlantic, but it cannot fully explain them, says Frölicher. A number of natural factors are suspected of contributing, such as weaker winds that slow down the subtropical gyre in the Atlantic, or the absence of the cooling effect of Saharan dust.
About the researcher #
Thomas Frölicher studied environmental sciences at ETH Zurich and completed his doctorate in physics at the University of Bern. He then worked for several years as a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University in the USA and at ETH Zurich. Since 2017 he has been an SNSF professor in the Climate and Environmental Physics division at the University of Bern. In 2019 Frölicher received the Theodor Kocher Prize of the University of Bern. He is a member of the Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research and, as a lead author, made a key contribution to the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.
