By Claire Asher For many years, the North Atlantic Ocean warmed more slowly than other parts of the world. In 2023, that changed — dramatically. Over the last year and a half, North Atlantic sea surface temperatures surged, with record-breaking heat extending roughly from Greenland south to the Caribbean, bleaching corals there, while whipping up violent European storms and fueling U.S. hurricanes like Helene and Milton. The underlying cause of this regionalized heating is undoubtedly greenhouse gas emissions. But while global emissions have been increasingly steadily, the climate has shown an…