The world ocean has experienced a net warming of 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit from the sea surface through about 10,000 feet of depth over the past 35-45 years. The world ocean has experienced a net warming of 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit from the sea surface through about 10,000 feet of depth over the past 35-45 years. The upper 1,000 feet has warmed by 0.56 degrees Fahrenheit.
Water is very effective at absorbing heat without undergoing much of a temperature change.
The finding, reported in today's issue of Science , answers the question of why the Earth's atmosphere has not warmed as much as climate model simulations have predicted, a point made repeatedly by critics of global warming. Our results support the predictions of the climate modelers and suggest that the models do have the correct sensitivity to increasing greenhouse gases. The ocean warming itself is not conclusive evidence of global warming due to human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. Combined with lower atmosphere and sea surface warming over the past 100 years and the thinning and retreat of Arctic sea ice during the past 35 to 45 years, however, builds a strong case for anthropogenic global warming. I have followed the greenhouse gas debate and part of the scientific literature on the subject.