“That is why we are seeing warming summer events consecutively,” she said. “It will have impacts on marine ecosystems and we’re already seeing range shifting of species.”

University of Technology Sydney professor of marine ecology David Booth said if ocean temperatures stay warm, corals around Sydney could be at risk of bleaching. Already, a local coral that thrives in caves off Collins Beach is showing warning signs. On the other hand, subtropical corals are thriving.

Weather patterns, such as La Nina, the negative Indian Ocean Dipole and a positive Southern Annular Mode, which have driven warmer ocean temperatures have eased or will continue to do so in the coming months. This means we might experience a drop in water temperatures in the coming years, said Weatherzone meteorologist James Rout.

He added weather events, such as cyclones, can also affect ocean temperatures. Cyclones, like the one that smashed New Zealand this week, tend to form over warm pockets of the ocean, such as marine heatwaves.

The warming waters are also a cause of concern for ice cover. Antarctic ice remains at record-low levels. In an update, NASA’s National Snow and Ice Data Centre noted that at the start of February, there were 2.26 million square kilometres of ice, 270,000 square kilometres below the previous February record low in 2017.

Australia’s climate is increasingly affected by global warming. It has warmed on average by 1.47 degrees (give or take 0.24 degrees) between when national records began in 1910 and 2021, with most of the warming occurring since 1950.

Australia’s weather will become even more chaotic in coming years and decades, the bureau found in its recent State of the Climate report, piling pressure on the federal government to increase its climate targets.

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