--- title: Some Oceans Are Becoming Greener Thanks to Climate Change description: More than half of the world’s ocean has changed colors in the past 20 years, a phenomenon likely driven by rising global temperatures. canonical: https://time.com/6294369/oceans-changing-color-global-warming/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-07-13T13:54:46.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:51:05.232Z article:section: Climate og:title: Some Oceans Are Becoming Greener Thanks to Climate Change og:description: More than half of the world’s ocean has changed colors in the past 20 years. og:url: https://time.com/6294369/oceans-changing-color-global-warming/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6f3f1db2e843072/698a3ea3096a94233f6adeed/ocean-climate-change-color-green.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Venezuela og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Some Oceans Are Becoming Greener Thanks to Climate Change twitter:description: More than half of the world’s ocean has changed colors in the past 20 years. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf6f3f1db2e843072/698a3ea3096a94233f6adeed/ocean-climate-change-color-green.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Some Oceans Are Becoming Greener Thanks to Climate Change > Sponsored content. 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It reaches 40,000 subscribers with a 34.2% open rate and a 2.1% click rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Catastrophic Flooding Swamps Vermont Forcing Rescues and Evacuations [Watch (HLS stream): Catastrophic Flooding Swamps Vermont Forcing Rescues and Evacuations](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/1xEnacEX.m3u8) (1:38)  _Published 2023-07-11. A storm that dumped two months of rain in two days in the Northeast caused widespread flooding in Vermont._ by [Coco Liu / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Coco Liu / Bloomberg Contributor Jul 13, 2023 1:54 PM UTC  A new study found that 56% of the global ocean experienced color change between 2002 and 2022, with tropical oceans near the equator becoming greener. A new study found that 56% of the global ocean experienced color change between 2002 and 2022, with tropical oceans near the equator becoming greener.Edoardo Fornaciari—Getty Images by [Coco Liu / Bloomberg](https://time.com/author/bloomberg/) ## Coco Liu / Bloomberg Contributor Jul 13, 2023 1:54 PM UTC More than half of the [world’s ocean](https://time.com/6190044/ocean-climate-change/) has changed colors in the past 20 years, a phenomenon that is likely driven by [climate change](https://time.com/section/climate/), according to a study published Wednesday in the journal _Nature_. The study, which analyzes decades’ worth of satellite data, found that 56% of the global ocean — a territory larger than the total land area on Earth — experienced color change between 2002 and 2022\. While the researchers didn’t identify an overall pattern, tropical [ocean regions](https://time.com/6213455/oceans-climate-solution-blue-carbon/) near the Equator seem to have become steadily greener over time. The study’s authors say that natural, year-to-year variability alone can’t explain those changes. The ocean’s color is the result of what exists in its upper layers. [In general](https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/oceanography/living-ocean/ocean-color#:~:text=The%20basic%20principle%20behind%20the,that%20can%20also%20absorb%20light.), the more phytoplankton — microbes containing a type of green pigment called chlorophyll — that live in the aquatic environment, the greener the water is; otherwise, it is bluer. The [ocean](https://time.com/5863821/saving-the-oceans/) also boasts light-absorbing organic matter that can change water’s color from blue to yellow and brown, depending on its concentration level. For that reason, a shift in color, though sometimes subtle to the human eye, signals changes in the organisms and substances in ocean waters. --- ### More from TIME --- “The statistical technique used in the analysis of the trend tells us that color is changing, but doesn’t really say how it is changing,” said Stephanie Dutkiewicz, a senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a coauthor of the study. “Though some low-latitude regions do suggest a greener shift, that is by no means the only direction of the shift.” It’s not clear exactly how marine ecosystems are changing to lead to the differences in color, the researchers say. The color shift could be caused by changes in plankton communities that are critical to the marine food chain. And biodiversity isn’t the only thing at stake: The shift could also affect how much carbon dioxide the ocean takes up, since different types of plankton have different abilities to absorb it. The changes are consistent with global heating from the burning of fossil fuels, say the scientists. “This gives additional evidence of how human activities are affecting life on Earth over a huge spatial extent,” lead author B. B. Cael of the UK’s National Oceanography Centre said in a statement. “It’s another way that humans are affecting the biosphere.” To gain a better understanding of how marine ecosystems might have changed over time, Cael and his team analyzed data collected by a sensor aboard the Aqua satellite, which has been monitoring ocean color for 21 years and taking measurements in seven visible wavelengths. Much of the ocean appears blue to human eyes, but the true color may contain a mix of wavelengths, from blue to green and even red. The satellite-based sensor can recognize ocean colors that are too subtle for human eyes to differentiate. Cael carried out a statistical analysis using all seven ocean colors measured by the satellite from 2002 to 2022\. He first examined how much the colors changed from region to region during a given year, which helped set the baseline of their natural variations. Then he zoomed out to look at these annual variations over a longer length of two decades. Those changes outstripped normal variability. The analysis of real-world satellite data is largely in line with modeling Dutkiewicz did in 2019, which simulated the Earth’s oceans under two scenarios: one with the addition of greenhouse gas, and another without it. The greenhouse-gas model predicted that color shifts could occur in about 50% of the world’s surface oceans within 20 years. Climate change threatens global oceans and the life that depends on them in myriad ways. For instance, polar bears could largely [disappear](https://www.utoronto.ca/news/most-polar-bear-populations-likely-collapse-end-century-if-global-warming-continues#:~:text=Latest%20news-,Most%20polar%20bear%20populations%20likely%20to%20collapse%20by,century%20if%20global%20warming%20continues&text=Most%20polar%20bear%20populations%20will,Toronto%20Scarborough%20study%20has%20found.) by the end of the century if global warming continues, a 2020 study warned, citing alarming losses of Arctic sea ice. 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