Climate change and the ocean

The Earth's atmosphere is increasingly modified by human activities that are driving directional, sustained, and rapid global change. There will be a cascade of impacts on marine systems including sea level rise, storm events, ocean acidification, changes in salinity (primarily ocean freshening), and ocean warming and marine heatwaves. These global-scale changes will combine to impact human physical and mental health via changes to, for example, coastal ecosystems, infrastructure, and resources (e.g., freshwater supplies, food security and safety, medical compounds); disease transmission via mosquito-borne diseases, naturalized organisms, fecal-oral pathways; extreme conditions such as rainfall, storm surges, and flooding; pollutants, including in the air; and human displacement and migration. The impact of these global changes will depend on the local climate, nonclimate environmental conditions, and socioeconomic contexts in which they manifest. Understanding these complexities is central to managing our ocean so that we ensure human health under a future climate.