In addition, measurements of
deep ocean temperature rises, which enable estimates of how fast heat and carbon dioxide are removed from the atmosphere and transferred to the ocean depths, imply lower transfer rates than previously estimated.
In addition, since we have already passed that level to over 400 ppm, and there is no storage seen that can affect us in the future more that 0.06 C (the actual
deep ocean temperature rise), there is no long - term effect that happens independently of the level of CO2.
Stott et al. (2007), for example, conclude that
deep ocean temperatures rose by 2 °C within a 2,000 - year time span (19,000 to 17,000 years ago) about a 1,000 years before CO2 concentrations (and surface temperatures) began to rise.
Not exact matches
The
rising temperatures cause layers of
ocean water to stratify so the more oxygen - rich surface waters are less able to mix with oxygen - poor waters from the
deeper ocean.
Using records going back more than a century to the British Challenger expedition, researchers calculate that the
deep ocean is experiencing its own
temperature rise.
However, when
temperatures warm over the Antarctic regions,
deep waters
rise from the floor of the
ocean much closer to the continent.
A new study found that vulnerability of
deep - sea biodiversity to climate change's triple threat —
rising water
temperatures, and decreased oxygen, and pH levels — is not uniform across the world's
oceans.
The research also supports a theory that a parallel pause in air
temperature rise in recent years may result from storage of heat in the
deep ocean.
For as much as atmospheric
temperatures are
rising, the amount of energy being absorbed by the planet is even more striking when one looks into the
deep oceans and the change in the global heat content (Figure 4).
As the
deep ocean keeps surface
temperatures from
rising, the equilibrium would still be unattained.
But if something causes heat to be transferred from the
ocean surface into its
deeps more rapidly than usual,
ocean surface
temperatures could
rise more slowly, not
rise at all, or even fall despite the increased backradiation.
Christy is correct to note that the model average warming trend (0.23 °C / decade for 1978 - 2011) is a bit higher than observations (0.17 °C / decade over the same timeframe), but that is because over the past decade virtually every natural influence on global
temperatures has acted in the cooling direction (i.e. an extended solar minimum,
rising aerosols emissions, and increased heat storage in the
deep oceans).
For as much as atmospheric
temperatures are
rising, the amount of energy being absorbed by the planet is even more striking when one looks into the
deep oceans and the change in the global heat content (Figure 4).
Bova et al., 2016 http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016GL071450/abstract «The observational record of
deep -
ocean variability is short, which makes it difficult to attribute the recent
rise in
deep ocean temperatures to anthropogenic forcing.
Although the increase in average surface
temperature has stalled over the past 16 years, average
temperatures in the
deep ocean — where most of the extra heat in the climate system is stored — has continued to
rise.
Some of the conclusions are that the
deep oceans are not
rising in
temperature nor contributing to sea level
rise.
Elsewhere on this site there is a graph of overall
ocean heat content which is building indicating that while the sst is decreasing slightly the overall
ocean is warming, It is likely that this overall
ocean warming which has nothing to do with changes to the atmospheric
temperature because it is the sea surface and not the
deep ocean that is in contact with the atmosphere is what is resulting in the overall
rise in atmospheric CO2 concentration which is currenly increasing at 2ppmv / year.
A slight change of
ocean temperature (after a delay caused by the high specific heat of water, the annual mixing of thermocline waters with
deeper waters in storms) ensures that
rising CO2 reduces infrared absorbing H2O vapour while slightly increasing cloud cover (thus Earth's albedo), as evidenced by the fact that the NOAA data from 1948 - 2008 shows a fall in global humidity (not the positive feedback
rise presumed by NASA's models!)
How quickly most of the
temperature rise occurs is pretty sensitive to assumptions regarding the
deep ocean and its communication with the mixed layer.
These buoys automatically dive
deep down into the
ocean every day, taking
temperature measurements as they slowly
rise, and transmitting that data back to a central database via satellite.
When the tropospheric hot spot could not be found and when
temperatures have failed to
rise we are now supposed to believe that the heat is somewhere way down in the
deep deep oceans....
The
temperature of
deep, still, parts of the
ocean have barely
risen one degree in 22,000 years, the last glacial max.
Rising ocean temperatures due to global warming — which could be drawing unfamiliar fishes to the region — and increased
deep - sea fishing may be responsible for the spike in fresh fish faces seen off Greenland.
Here is a finding from last year that does indicate that
deep ocean temperatures are indeed
rising: http://www.physsci.uci.edu/psnews/?id=159 but it is curious to take reassurance in the thought that 10 ft under the
ocean surface everything is fine when we don't live there.
The
rise of CO2 that led to this dramatic acidification occurred during the Paleocene - Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a period when global
temperatures rose by around 5 °C over several thousand years and one of the largest - ever mass extinctions in the
deep ocean occurred.
so the
deeper than 700 meter
ocean can be a sink for heat without a significant
rise in
temperature.
More succinctly, if
deep ocean temperatures can naturally
rise by 1 °C in 100 years without any change in CO2, then attributing changes in
ocean temperature that are already «below the detection limit» for the last 200 years (or just ~ 0.1 °C since 1955) to anthropogenic CO2 forcing is highly presumptuous at best.