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Climate change has already impacted about half of Indian Ocean basin

Published

5 years ago

2020/08/25

Sahan Weerasooriya

File photo of people wading through flood water in a Colombo suburb

Half of world’s oceans already affected by climate change

The world’s oceans have turned into a veritable sponge for our emissions, and new climate models suggest we’ve soaked them right through, said a report published by the Science Alert news service yesterday.

Since the 1950s, our planet’s vast bodies of water have absorbed roughly 93 percent of the energy entering the climate system, and while most of that heating has been observed near the ocean surface, rising temperatures are now permeating even the deepest parts, ScienceAlert reported.

The report filed from Tehran said: Real-world data on the deep ocean is hard to come by, but a new estimate, based on recent measurements and nearly a dozen climate models, suggests climate change has already impacted up to about half (20 to 55 percent) of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Ocean basins.

What’s more, in just six decades, these human-induced changes in temperature and salinity could very well spread to 80 percent of the world’s oceans.

“We were interested in whether the levels of temperatures and salt were great enough to overcome natural variability in these deeper areas,” explains climate scientist Yona Silvy from Sorbonne University in France. “That is, if they had risen or fallen higher than they ever would during the normal peaks and troughs.”

Using temperature and salinity measurements from the deep ocean and plugging these into 11 current climate models, the team simulated ocean and atmospheric circulation over the years, with and without the contribution of human emissions.

During the second half of the 20th century, Silvy and her colleagues found human-induced warming was responsible for most observed ocean changes – “statistically” and “unambiguously” different from what would occur naturally. Because heat and salt impact ocean density and circulation, this could have widespread implications.

“This affects global ocean circulation, sea level rise, and poses a threat to human societies and ecosystems,” says Silvy.

Most of the time, heat and salt from the surface of the ocean are transported relatively slowly to the ocean’s interior, which means that many of the deepest parts experience a lag in human-induced changes.

Some deeper areas, however, circulate quicker, and thus respond faster to our emissions.

In the new model, for instance, the Southern Ocean, which is relatively well-ventilated, experienced human-induced changes quite quickly, showing up as early as the 1980s.

Meanwhile, in the Northern Hemisphere, oceans took a little longer to respond, with most changes calculated to appear sometime between 2010 and 2040.

Together, by 2020, the model shows somewhere between 20 percent and 55 percent of the world’s oceans had been altered by anthropogenic climate change.

By mid-century, these changes could make up 50 to 60 percent of the world’s oceans, and by 2080, 55 to 80 percent.

“This work suggests that a large portion of the observed change patterns in the ocean interior is human-induced and will continue to intensify with continuing CO2 emissions,” the authors write.

Plus, even if emissions are slowed, the lag in ocean circulation means we are locked in to a certain amount of change going forwards.

We still don’t fully understand the relationship between deeper changes to salt and heat and surface warming, or how these changes impact ocean circulation. It requires far more investigation, especially in the Southern Hemisphere where deep ocean data is few and far between, but investigate it we must.

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PM participates in special Shiva Pooja held at the Thirukedeswaran Temple in Mannar

Published

9 hours ago

2026/02/17

Priyan

The Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya participated in the special Shiva pooja held on at the Thiruketheeswaran Kovil in Mannar, in observance of Maha Shivaratri, a day celebrated with deep devotion by Hindu devotees

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“Sri Lanka Set to Become the First South Asian Country to Enter the Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform”

Published

10 hours ago

2026/02/17

Priyan

Today (17), Sri Lanka officially expressed its Intent to Enter into Global Charter on Children’s Care Reform at the United Nations Compound, Bauddhaloka Mawatha, Colombo 07.

The event was attended by the David Lammy, Member of Parliament, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice and Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. On behalf of Sri Lanka, the official Expression of Intent was made by the Minister of Women and Child Affairs, Saroja Savithri Paulraj.

Sri Lanka has long been a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and remains committed under international law to protecting and promoting children’s rights. The Global Charter for on Children’s Care Reform has been developed based on existing international commitments, including the 2009 United Nations General Assembly Guidelines for the Alternative Care of Children; the 2019 UN General Assembly resolution focusing on the rights of children without parental care (A/RES/74/133); the CRPD/C/5: Guidelines on de-institutionalization, including in emergencies (2022); the 2022 Kigali Declaration of Commonwealth States; and the 2024 1st Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children, which called for action. To date, 34 countries around the world have endorsed this Charter.

As no South Asian country has yet joined this Charter, Sri Lanka is set to become the first South Asian nation to do so.

The primary objective of joining this Charter is to further strengthen Sri Lanka’s national child Care policies and align their implementation with international standards.

The event was collaboratively organized by UNICEF and the British High Commission in Sri Lanka. Among those present were the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Andrew Patrick; British Deputy High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Theresa O’Mahony; UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Marc-André Franche; UNICEF Representative to Sri Lanka, Emma Brigham; Secretary to the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, Tharanganie Wickramasinghe; government officials; representatives of non-governmental organizations; and civil society representatives.

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CEB seeking tariff hike while making huge profits, says opposition trade union leader

Published

21 hours ago

2026/02/17

Sahan Weerasooriya

Ananda Palitha

Convenor of the Samagi Joint Trade Union Alliance affiliated with the Samagi Jana Balawegaya, Ananda Palitha, yesterday (16) said that the Ceylon Electricity Board was seeking to raise electricity tariffs by 13.56% percent although it had earned a profit of more than Rs 22,000 mn.

The CEB recently submitted its proposal to the Public Utilities Commission of Sri Lanka (PUCSL) for an electricity tariff revision for the second quarter of this year – the period effective from April 1 to June 30.

Palitha alleged that the PUCSL, in spite of knowing the massive profit earned by the CEB, at the expense of the hapless public, had chosen to allow the state enterprise to propose an additional burden.

The economic, technical and safety regulator of the electricity industry, and the designated regulator for petroleum and water services industries, should exercise its powers in terms of the PUCSL Act No. 35 of 2002 and the Sri Lanka Electricity Act No. 20 of 2009 to provide relief, the veteran trade unionist said.

Palitha emphasised that the PUCSL had the right to intervene on behalf of electricity consumers but, unfortunately, chose to facilitate the CEB’s despicable strategy. “The proposal to increase tariffs by 13.56% was meant to divert attention. The real issue at hand is the percentage of electricity tariff reduction,” Palitha said. The former UNPer found fault with the Opposition for failing to expose the CEB.

Taking into consideration the Rs 22,000 millionplus profit, the PUCSL could order the CEB to grant relief to consumers, Palitha said, adding that the CEB and PUCSL, together, deprived electricity consumers tariff reduction in the first quarter of this year, too.

In January this year, the CEB asked for a 11.59% tariff increase though it was enjoying Rs 22,000 mn profit at that time, the trade unionist said.

Palitha said that as the PUCSL received all data available to the CEB it was fully aware of the finances of the state enterprise.

In January, 2025, regardless of the NPP government floating the idea regarding as much as a 37% tariff increase, the PUCSL granted a 20% tariff reduction (25% of Rs 22,000 mn profit), Palitha said.

According to him, as a result of relief granted to the consumers, the profits had been reduced to Rs 16,000 mn but by June 2025 profits had increased to Rs 18,000 mn and there was a need to grant tariff reduction. But, the NPP, having always lashed out at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the run up to the presidential election, held in September 2024, started playing a different tune.

Responding to The Island queries, Palitha said that contrary to claims that the CEB proposed a 13.56% tariff increase to cover up losses caused by the importation of low-quality coal for the Norochcholai Lakvijaya coal-fired power plant, the current strategy seemed to have been adopted at the behest of the IMF.

Instead of granting tariff reduction for the third quarter in 2025, the PUCSL ordered an 18% increase, Palitha said. The trade unionist claimed that the Finance Ministry, at the behest of the IMF, directed both the CEB and the PUCSL to increase electricity tariffs by 20% in violation of the relevant Acts, he said.

Then in Oct, 2025, the CEB proposed a 6.8 % tariff increase at a time its profits were around Rs 22,000 mn. The CEB and PUCSL staged a drama over that proposal and finally, on the false pretext of the CEB’s failure to furnish its proposal on time, the revision was dropped, Palitha said. The SJB activist pointed out that the Opposition failed to highlight that consumers had been deprived of downward revision in spite of massive profits earned by the Board. “In fact, when Energy Minister Kumara Jayakody met trade unions, he very clearly declared that they were considering electricity power reduction, perhaps by 10%, 12% or 15%. But in the end nothing happened.”

Now the same drama is being enacted by the government, the CEB and the PUCSL, Palitha said.

By Shamindra Ferdinando