Scientists predict the oceans will grow warmer and turn a deeper blue, which rabbis say more closely resembles the Throne of Glory.

In a report published in the scientific journal Nature Communications earlier this week, researchers predicted that the temperatures of the oceans may rise by as much as 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 80 years. This will lead to an increase in phytoplankton in the oceans, which will make the blues and greens more intense and vibrant.

According to the research, more than 50 percent of the world’s oceans will shift in color. Open-ocean regions are more barren and have fewer of the phytoplankton and currently appear blue. The researchers predicted that in the future, these regions will become bluer. Colder regions of the ocean, generally those near the poles, currently appear green but will, in the future appear even more vibrantly green.

“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,” lead author Stephanie Dutkiewicz wrote on the MIT website. “The 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.”

Scientists have been monitoring chlorophyll levels in the oceans since the 1990s via satellite but emphasize that a rise in chlorophyll may not be attributable to climate change.

“An El Niño or La Niña event will throw up a very large change in chlorophyll because it’s changing the amount of nutrients that are coming into the system,” Dutkiewicz said. “Because of these big, natural changes that happen every few years, it’s hard to see if things are changing due to climate change, if you’re just looking at chlorophyll.”

Rabbi Avraham Arieh Trugman, director of the Ohr Chadash Torah Institute, believes this could be a reminder of things-to-come.

“As we get closer to Moshiach, the revelation of God will be far more revealed and eventually totally revealed,” Rabbi Trugman said to Breaking Israel News. “The Talmud states that the color techelet (blue) is similar to the [color of ] the sea, the sea is similar to the [color of ] the heavens, and the heavens are similar to the [color of] God’s throne of Glory.”

To illustrate the significance of the oceans in the end of days, Rabbi Trugman cited a verse from Isaiah.

For the land shall be filled with the knowledge of Hashem as the waters cover the sea. Isaiah 11:9

“The Rambam (Maimonides) brings this verse to describe what the world will be like in the days of the Messiah,” Rabbi Trugman said. “If the color of the oceans turns bluer, a person could understand this as being indicative of a process in motion that is leading to a greater revelation of God’s throne, which is symbolic of His aspect of kingship. This all ties together since in the days of the Messiah, God will be universally recognized as King as has been prophesied:

And Hashem shall be king over all the earth; in that day Hashem will be One [universally recognized] and His name One. Zechariah 14:9

“The symbolism of the ocean turning bluer in our day may very well be indicative of a greater sense of Godly revelation occurring, and about to occur, in the world,” Rabbi Trugman concluded.

Rabbi Yekutiel Fish,  an expert in Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism) who blogs in Hebrew under the title ‘Sod Chashmal,’ connected the oceanic transformation with a specific object: the thread of blue, woven into the fringes of tzitzit (Biblically mandated four-cornered garment).

Speak unto B’nei Yisrael, and bid them that they make them throughout their generations fringes in the corners of their garments, and that they put with the fringe of each corner a thread of blue. Numbers 15:38

“The Ari Zal noted that the mitzvah (Torah commandment) of putting a thread of blue in our tzitzit (four-cornered garment) will return coincidentally with the Messiah,” Rabbi Fish told Breaking Israel News. He noted that many of the priestly garments used in the Temple utilized the techelet dye in their design. “It may be that in order for this mitzvah to return, God is changing the color of the ocean to reintroduce the color into the world, a color that has not been seen since the Temple was destroyed.”

“This phenomenon needs to be understood, Rabbi Fish said. “The tzitzit is a reminder of the mitzvoth (Torah commandments). If the color of the ocean changes to more closely resemble the original techelet, then people will be reminded of the mitzvoth, or the heavens, and of the Throne of Glory. This is certainly necessary to bring the Moshiach (Messiah).”