The Atlantic Ocean is getting colder, baffling scientists

Climate change is one of the most important phenomena that our planet is currently facing. However, there are so many things we are still trying to understand about it.

Global warming is no secret. Record-high temperatures have been witnessed year after year around the planet. However, something strange is happening with the Atlantic Ocean.

Gizmodo writes that, between May and August, water temperature in parts of the Atlantic Ocean have been dropping at a mysteriously fast rate.

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The phenomenon, labelled as The Atlantic Niña by experts, follows the fourth year in a row in which the ocean hits record levels of warm temperatures.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explains that while the northern Atlantic Ocean has been extremely warm, elsewhere the story is different.

The NOAA reports that, in the south-central Atlantic Ocean, temperatures have been one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) lower than average.

This might not sound like much at first glance, but in nature even the smallest irregularity can have big consequences. For instance, the oceanic heat wave put a strain on 99% of the Atlantic’s coral reef.

Scientists aren’t quite sure why this is happening. “We’ve gone through the list of possible mechanisms, and nothing checks the box so far,” Frans Philip Tuchen, a postdoctoral student at the University of Miami, told The New Scientist.

According to The New Scientist, temperatures going lower in the Atlantic comes at the same time as the Pacific Ocean is going through the Niña as well.

Both climatic events, going back-to-back, could have major repercussions on the weather around the world.

Gizmodo explains that El Niño and La Niña can have global consequences, besides affecting water temperatures, citing a study highlighting that El Niño can cause trillions of dollars lost in GDP around the globe, with its effects lasting for years.

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El Niño has also been responsible for an increase in disease, with mosquitoes, toxic algae, bacteria, and other maladies thriving in prolonged warm and humid environments.