Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Year in Review
  • Published:

Climate chronicles

Ocean heat content in 2023

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 5, pages 232–234 (2024)Cite this article

Subjects

In 2023, global full-depth ocean heat content (OHC) reached a record increase of 464 ± 55 ZJ since 1960, with strong heat gain observed in the Southern and Atlantic Oceans. OHC was 16 ± 10 ZJ higher than in 2022, continuing the long-term increasing trend that started in 1960.

Key points

  • Full-depth OHC peaked in 2023, with 40%, 24%, 28%, and 8% of heat accumulated within the 0–300 m, 300–700 m, 700–2000 m and below-2000 m layers, respectively, since 1960.

  • In situ and satellite approaches indicate an increasing — and accelerating — global heating rate, with a trend of 0.16 ± 0.02 W m–2 dec–1 estimated from 1960–2023.

  • Observed global ocean warming in 2023 is consistent with the projection of the CMIP6 multi-model-median.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Ocean heat content and its rate from 1960 to 2023.

Data availability

Argo data were collected and made freely available by the International Argo Program and the national programmes contributing to it (https://argo.ucsd.edu, https://www.ocean-ops.org). The IAP/CAS (Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences) observation and model data used are available at www.ocean.iap.ac.cn.

References

  1. Cheng, L. et al. Past and future ocean warming. Nat. Rev. Earth Environ. 3, 776–794 (2022).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. von Schuckmann, K. et al. Heat stored in the Earth system 1960–2020: where does the energy go? Earth Syst. Sci. Data 15, 1675–1709 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Cheng, L. et al. New Record Ocean temperatures and related climate impact drivers in 2023. Adv. Atmos. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-024-3378-5 (2024).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Gulev, S. et al. Changing state of the climate system. In Climate Change 2021: The physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the sixth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (eds. Masson-Delmotte, V. et al.) 287–422 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2021).

  5. Cheng, L. et al. Evolution of Ocean Heat Content Related to ENSO. J. Clim. 32, 3529–3556 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Eyring, V. et al. Overview of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) experimental design and organization. Geosci. Model Dev. 9, 1937–1958 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Purkey, S. G. & Johnson, G. C. Warming of Global Abyssal and Deep Southern Ocean Waters between the 1990s and 2000s: Contributions to Global Heat and Sea Level Rise Budgets. J. Clim. 23, 6336–6351 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Loeb, N. G. et al. Satellite and Ocean Data Reveal Marked Increase in Earth’s Heating Rate. Geophys. Res. Lett. 48, e2021GL093047 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Hakuba, M. Z., Frederikse, T. & Landerer, F. W. Earth’s Energy Imbalance From the Ocean Perspective (2005–2019). Geophys. Res. Lett. 48, e2021GL093624 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Minière, A., von Schuckmann, K. Sallée, J.-B. & Vogt, L. Robust acceleration of Earth system heating observed over the past six decades. Sci. Rep. 13, 22975 (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

L. C. acknowledges financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 42076202), the new Cornerstone Science Foundation through the XPLORER PRIZE; Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences; National Key Scientific and Technological Infrastructure project “Earth System Science Numerical Simulator Facility” (EarthLab). Research by M. H. was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004). Research by K. v. S. was carried out at Mercator Ocean International, France. We thank B. Beckley for providing updated GMSL data utilized in the geodetic analysis. We acknowledge the World Climate Research Programme’s Working Group on Coupled Modelling, which is responsible for CMIP, and we thank the climate modelling groups for producing and making available their model output through the Earth System Grid Federation. The Argo Program is part of the Global Ocean Observing System.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Lijing Cheng & Yuying Pan

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Lijing Cheng & Yuying Pan

  3. Mercator Ocean International, Toulouse, France

    Karina von Schuckmann & Audrey Minière

  4. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Maria Z. Hakuba

  5. Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA, USA

    Sarah Purkey

  6. Goddard Institute for Space Studies, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, New York City, NY, USA

    Gavin A. Schmidt

Authors
  1. Lijing Cheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Karina von Schuckmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Audrey Minière
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Maria Z. Hakuba
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Sarah Purkey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Gavin A. Schmidt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Yuying Pan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lijing Cheng.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Cheng, L., von Schuckmann, K., Minière, A. et al. Ocean heat content in 2023. Nat Rev Earth Environ 5, 232–234 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00539-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00539-9

This article is cited by

  • Sea ice in 2023

    • Lettie A. Roach
    • Walter N. Meier

    Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2024)

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing