The world’s oceans have absorbed more heat than previously thought over the last quarter of a century, scientists said on Thursday, leaving the earth more sensitive still to the effects of climate change.

Oceans cover more than two thirds of the planet’s surface and play a vital role in sustaining life on the earth.

According to their most recent assessment this month, scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) say the world’s oceans have absorbed 90% of the temperature rise caused by man-made carbon emissions.

But new research published in the journal Nature used a novel method of measuring ocean temperature.

It found that for each of the last 25 years, oceans may have absorbed heat energy equivalent to as much as 150 times the amount of electricity mankind produces annually.

That is between 10-70% higher than previous studies showed.

Whereas those studies relied on tallying the excess heat produced by known man-made greenhouse gas emissions, a team of U.S.-based scientists focused on two gases found naturally in the atmosphere: oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Both gases are soluble in water, but the rate at which water absorbs them decreases as it warms.

By measuring atmospheric oxygen and CO2 for each year, scientists were able to estimate how much heat oceans had absorbed on a global scale.

The authorscalculated that oceans had warmed

in the range of 10-70%.

Every year Amur falcons take a long journey covering many countries including China, Mongolia, Russia and India to reach Somalia.

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