New Study Reveals Unexpected Decline in Ocean Evaporation Amid Rising Sea Temperatures
10 hours ago Charles Rotter
A recent study published in Geophysical Research Letters, has turned up a surprising result: global ocean evaporation, a cornerstone of the hydrological cycle, has been declining since the late 2000s despite steadily warming sea surfaces. This runs counter to the widely held view that a warmer climate should boost evaporation rates. For those tracking discrepancies in climate science, this is worth a closer look.
The researchers analyzed satellite data spanning 1988 to 2017, drawing from four independent products: J-OFURO3, SeaFlux, HOAPS, and IFREMER. Their findings show that global ocean evaporation—which supplies about 85% of the atmosphere’s water vapor—rose sharply over the first two decades of the period, peaking around 2008. Then, the trend flipped. From 2008 to 2017, the global average dipped slightly, with two-thirds of the ocean experiencing reduced evaporation. This was validated, where possible, against buoy observations from the Global Tropical Moored Buoy Array, though coverage is sparse beyond the tropics.
Abstract
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/02/24/new-study-reveals-unexpected-decline-in-ocean-evaporation-amid-rising-sea-temperatures/
