The oceans are heating up, sea levels are rising and Arctic ice is retreating dramatically: the latest Copernicus report paints a grim picture of the state of the world's oceans.

The world's oceans are in increasingly poor shape. This is the finding of the fifth report from the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service. In the annually published report, 150 scientists commissioned by the European Commission show how rapidly the oceans are changing due to human intervention.

World's oceans rising by 2.5 millimetres per year

The report identifies the most severe consequences: the warming of the world's oceans and melting land ice are leading to a rise in sea levels — by 2.5 millimetres per year in the Mediterranean region and up to 3.1 millimetres globally. The report cites the flooding of Venice in November 2019, when water levels rose to as high as 1.89 metres, as an example of the looming consequences. The warming of the oceans is also causing marine species to migrate to cooler waters or populations to shrink.

Read more about the impacts on sea levels on stern.de!