Well this is a shocker.

The Southern Ocean – already called home to the world’s largest waves and most dangerous storms for sailors – has been recorded to have an increase in wave size over the past few decades, and the reason behind this is climate change.

The way climate change and the rising height of the tallest waves, which have grown 30 centimeters since 1985, are linked is by faster winds. Winds drive ocean waves, so faster winds will, in turn, lead to faster waves. But that isn’t how climate change is directly effecting the process of waves getting taller. This process is actually can be stemmed from a previous effect – the rise in global temperatures.

When the global temperature rises, everything, of course, gets a bit warmer. That is also true for the oceans, so when the temperatures get warmer, the tropics start to expand. Then, since there is an expansion of the tropics, the wind speed will also begin to increase as well. And, as previously mentioned, an increase in wind speed then leads to taller waves.

Of course, more research is needed to further link the two topics of climate change and the taller waves in the Southern Ocean, but it is still a bit scary to think of all of the effects that climate change will have on our planet that hasn’t been researched or discussed yet. Only time will be able to give us a clearer picture of how we are damaging the only place we can call home in our universe.