Since
ocean temperature anomalies in the canonical Niño 3.4 region are now above 2 C — which are record values for the calendar month and not too far from their highest values ever observed at any time of year — current observations in the real world suggests that the models are very much on track.
During the year, the global
monthly ocean temperature anomaly ranged from +0.58 °C (+1.04 °F; February) to +0.86 °C (+1.55 °F; October), a difference of 0.28 °C (0.51 °F).
Atmospheric circulation, temperature, water vapour, and clouds are examined; as well
as ocean temperature anomalies, currents, and behaviour are discussed.
And whether or not internal variability in the real climate system might be able to cause similar effects, it seems clear that no massive
ocean temperature anomaly did in fact develop during the historical period.
These two datasets are blended into a single product to produce the combined global land and
ocean temperature anomalies.
Could the difference between the land temperature anomaly and
ocean temperature anomaly be used to calculate how far away from energy equilibrium the planet is?
January 2016 land and
ocean temperature anomalies (deviations from average temperatures in January from 1951 - 1980).
We saw that the land temperature anomalies are both higher and have been increasing faster than
ocean temperature anomalies.
Mann said
the ocean temperature anomalies of 5 to 6 degrees Fahrenheit above average would yield more than a 20 % increase of the moisture content of the air overlying that layer of ocean waters.
We find that over a wide range of values of diapycnal diffusivity and Southern Ocean winds, and with a variety of changes in surface boundary conditions, the spatial patterns of
ocean temperature anomaly are nearly always determined as much or more by the existing heat reservoir redistribution than by the nearly passive uptake of temperature due to changes in the surface boundary conditions.