New Delhi, March 3 -- The world experienced a 240 per cent increase in the average number of marine heatwave (MHW) days in the summers of 2023-24 relative to the instrumental record, a new study warned.

MHW, which are extreme rises in ocean temperature for an extended period of time, hit every part of the globe. Close to 10 per cent of the oceans experienced the highest sea surface temperatures (SST) ever - four times higher than the historical annual average, reads the analysis published in Nature Climate Change.

The global average SSTs reached record highs. This rapid warming, according to scientists, is fuelled by human-induced climate change. The other contributing factors include El Nino - warm phase of a natural climate pattern ac...