The new paradigm explains how oceans store energy not only as heat but also as quantum energy, which contributes to accelerating temperature increases. Current climate models need to be adjusted to include this factor, but reducing greenhouse gas emissions is vital to solving the underlying problem.

An Australian scientist explains the increasing rate of ocean heat absorption with quantum physics, unlike current climate models.

In a recently published article Journal of Physics CommunicationGeoff Smith, emeritus professor of applied physics at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), introduces a new “quantum thermal physics paradigm” to better understand the effects of global warming on the oceans and therefore on climate and weather.

Rising ocean temperatures: a worrying sign

Professor Smith said 70 years of data showed an increase in ocean temperatures and the total energy stored in the oceans, with the world reaching a record global average surface temperature earlier this year, described as a “predictable turning point”. 21.1°C.

“Current scientific models of a sustained increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere do not predict such a threatening acceleration,” Professor Smith said.

“The solution to this puzzle is that the energy stored in the oceans is a combination of heat and energy, a natural source of information about material properties.

“When water in the ocean is heated by radiation from the sun and sky, it stores energy not only in the form of heat but also in the form of hybrid photon pairs bound to the released water molecules.

“These pairs are a natural form of quantum information that differs from the information researchers sought in the development of quantum computing. This additional energy source has always been available and contributed to the temperature stability of the ocean until the 1960s.”

“But now, as each day warms, the average heat emitted throughout the night is no longer constant, as the addition of additional heat from the Earth’s atmosphere increases both forms of stored energy.”

Professor Smith said the significant role of non-thermal energy in accelerating ocean temperatures now needs to be factored into climate models.

“Our current models of the thermal responses of built and natural outdoor systems may need to be improved to increase comfort, reduce energy use and improve human, plant and animal health in a warming climate,” Professor Smith said. “Ultimately, the only way to slow and then stop the alarming rise in temperature is to stop the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.”