'The ocean is transforming before our eyes': World’s seas absorb record-breaking amount of heat

This year's deadly cocktail of extreme heat and dirty air subjected more than one-third of humanity to dangerous levels of ground-level ozone pollution, says report

A scientific researcher analyses the temperature and oxygen levels of near Sete, southern France this summer. File picture: Gabriel Bouys/Getty Images

A record-breaking 23 zettajoules of heat was sunk into the world’s seas last year, leaving ocean waters hotter, higher, and less hospitable, a report has found.

The explosive addition of thermal energy, which was almost 40 times greater than all the energy humanity used that year, comes amid far-reaching changes to the deep water bodies fundamental to life on Earth.