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Comment and Environment

A big gulf in ocean science threatens to sink the climate change fight

To tackle global warming, we must properly grasp what is happening in the oceans. That is why, at COP28, we will be calling on world leaders to urgently ramp up marine observations, says oceanographer Margaret Leinen

By Margaret Leinen

21 November 2023

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An Argo float being deployed to collect marine information, as part of the Argo programme.

Humanity has a blind spot when it comes to the role of the ocean in climate change. That is in part because, as land-dwellers, we naturally tend to focus most on terra firma. But it is also because we know little about what is happening below the surface of the ocean at any moment due to a severe lack of observations there.

Satellites surround our planet and watch its atmosphere and land continuously. Every day, this…

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