Scientists drilled to the bottom of the Great Blue Hole and uncovered worrying trend

Experts have drilled to the bottom of the Belize Great Blue Hole, discovering an extremely ‘concerning’ tropical weather trend.

The Great Blue Hole is a large marine sinkhole situated around 43 miles from Belize City.

With a surface area of 760,500 sq ft, scientists believe the UNESCO World Heritage Site began to form around 153,000 years ago.

In recent years, the eye-catching geological feature has become a place that recreational scuba divers travel to and explore. However, explorers claim it’s much more than just a tourist attraction—it serves as an indicator that tropical cyclones in the Caribbean could increase in the coming decade.

On March 14, a new study was published in the popular Geology journal, entitled 'An annually resolved 5700-year storm archive reveals drivers of Caribbean cyclone frequency'.

Researchers analyzed the sediment core, which measured 98 feet, to determine the exact number of tropical cyclones that had taken place over the past 5,700 years.

According to Live Science, two layers of fair-weather sediment are usually laid down every year. This enables researchers to essentially count back the years in a similar fashion to counting the rings of a tree.

After comparing when storm-event sediment layers were deposited, scientists discovered that tropical cyclones had been increasing in frequency for the past 5,700 years.

The Great Blue Hole shows the devastating impact of climate change (UNESCO)

An increase in the adverse weather phenomenon was also seen around the Industrial Revolution, which is when the world started burning fossil fuels.

"A key finding of our study is that the regional storm frequency has increased continuously since 5,700 years B.P. [before present]," study lead author Dominik Schmitt, a researcher at Goethe University Frankfurt's Biosedimentology Research Group, told the publication.

"Remarkably, the frequency of storm landfalls in the study area has been much higher in the last two decades than in the last six millennia — a clear indication of the influence of Modern Global Warming."

Schmitt went on to say that over the past six millennia, there have been between four and 16 tropical storms and hurricanes passing over The Great Blue Hole 'every century'.

However, in the past two decades, researchers discovered evidence of nine tropical storms passing over the protected site.

The graph shows how storm frequency in the Great Blue Hole has increased in 100-year windows (Schmitt et al.)

"The nine modern storm layers from the last 20 years indicate that extreme weather events in this region will become much more frequent in the 21st century,” Schmitt added.

The study claims that rising global sea surface temperatures, caused by climate change, are likely responsible for the recent spike in tropical storms.

Another reason for the spike could be stronger global La Niña events, which are known to lead to other natural disasters like drought and flooding.

Worryingly, the specialists also believe another 45 tropical storms, hurricanes and cyclones could hit the Caribbean before the end of 2100.

“This high number is far in excess of what has been the case in the past 5,700 years," Schmitt said.

If you want to do your bit for the environment, it’s advised you eat a more plant-based diet, keep fossil fuels in the ground, and switch to more sustainable transport options.

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