Ocean Heat Record can be misinterpreted

I just wrote a letter to the Orange County Register in response to a letter that implied that since the sea energy content from 0 to 700 meters depth had not changed since 2003, global warming might be over.  Here is my letter:

“You just published a letter by … on the energy content of the ocean, which explained that the heat content had not increased since 2003.  What the letter failed to point out is that the NOAA time graph at http://www.nodc.noaa.gov/OC5/3M_HEAT_CONTENT/ shows that the energy content fluctuates, and that 2003 was the highest fluctuation to date.  But the same graph shows that the yearly average increased from 2000 to 2003 by a whopping amount, from
6 units to 10 units above the average in the 1980s. Carefully chosen statistics
can often prove any point.”

Since it a NOAA graph, I am showing it below:

New research projections by Jianjun Yin of the University of Arizona show that sea temperature rise from 200 to 500 meters might be as large as one degree Celsius by the end of the century.  Due to the Gulf Stream, the temperature at Greenland might be as high as two degrees Celsius.  This could cause sea level to rise a full meter by then, since Eric Rignot and colleagues have shown that warm water under ice shelves is the fastest mode for melting the ice.  The news story is at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43627029/ns/technology_and_science-science/

About Dennis SILVERMAN

I am a retired Professor of Physics and Astronomy at U C Irvine. For two decades I have been active in learning about energy and the environment, and in reporting on those topics for a decade. For the last four years I have added science policy. Lately, I have been reporting on the Covid-19 pandemic of our times.
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