在2024年，一个由社会科学家与海洋科学家组成的跨学科团队著手调查海洋热浪——由于气候变迁而变得更加频繁且强烈的长时间海洋温度上升——是否会对儿童及孕产妇健康造成影响。领导这项研究的 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 人文地理学家兼教授 Clark Gray 表示，他原本已做好一无所获的准备。

研究人员于本月发表了他们的报告，揭示了令人担忧的统计数据。研究团队发现，在 24 个月的周期内，海洋热浪发生的次数每增加一个标准差——约相当于比正常情况多出 3 次海洋热浪——儿童死亡率便会上升 5.4%。此外，可能由营养不良导致的儿童消瘦率与儿童发育迟缓率也分别增加了 6.5% 和 8.8%。

海洋热浪影响陆地极端天气的机制目前仍在研究中。这项发表于《美国国家科学院院刊》（Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences）的研究也存在一定局限性，作者特别针对低收入和中等收入国家的健康数据进行了分析。

In 2024, an interdisciplinary team of social and marine scientists set out to examine whether the prevalence of marine heatwaves—prolonged rises in ocean temperatures that are becoming more frequent and more intense due to climate change—has any impact on child and maternal health outcomes. Clark Gray, a human geographer and professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who led the research, noted he was prepared to find no correlation.

The researchers published their report this month, revealing distressing statistical findings. The team discovered that for every standard deviation increase in marine heatwaves over a 24-month period—equivalent to roughly three additional marine heatwaves above normal—child mortality increases by 5.4 percent. Furthermore, child wasting and child stunting, which often stem from malnutrition, rose by 6.5 percent and 8.8 percent respectively.

The precise mechanisms through which marine heatwaves influence terrestrial extreme weather remain under active investigation. Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study has recognized limitations, as the authors specifically evaluated health dataset samples originating exclusively from low- and middle-income nations.