Global warming is changing the colour of the sea!

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Global warming is changing the colour of the sea making it more blue or green, scientists warn.

Climate-driven changes in phytoplankton communities, also known as algae, are intensifying the blue and green regions of the world's oceans

This will visibly alter the shade of half of oceans by the end of the century, experts say.

If we carry on 'business as usual' then the majority of water covering our planet will unnaturally become bluer and greener by the year 2100, researchers claim.

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Predictions by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston warned the growth and behaviour of phytoplankton in the ocean will change as temperatures continue to soar.

Such changes could have a deadly impact on marine ecosystems.

The scientists have created a model to predict the shifts in colour but satellite imagery will be needed to detect potentially devastating changes to marine ecosystems.

According to their model, climate change is already changing the makeup of phytoplankton and by extension, the colour of the oceans.

By the end of the century, our blue planet may look visibly altered.

Lead author Principal Research Scientist Dr Stephanie Dutkiewicz said: 'The model suggests the changes won't appear huge to the naked eye, and the ocean will still look like it has blue regions in the subtropics and greener regions near the equator and poles.

'That basic pattern will still be there. But it'll be enough different that it will affect the rest of the food web that phytoplankton supports.

'There will be a noticeable difference in the colour of 50 per cent of the ocean by the end of the 21st century.

'It could be potentially quite serious.

'Different types of phytoplankton absorb light differently, and if climate change shifts one community of phytoplankton to another, that will also change the types of food webs they can support.'