New Research Shows Global Warming Speeding Up Scientists find 'missing heat' in deep ocean waters

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http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/03/28-1


Land, atmosphere, and ice heating (red), 0-700 meter ocean heat content (OHC) increase (light blue), and 700-2,000 meter OHC increase (dark blue). (Image: From Nuccitelli et al., 2012)

The rate of global warming is speeding up, say scientists, despite the apparent stagnation in the rise of global surface air temperatures that may have prevented people from recognizing "the danger of the climate problem we face."

A new study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters says that in the past 15 years we've undergone "the most sustained warming trend."

The researchers attribute this "missing heat" phenomena to the fact that about 90% of overall global warming goes into heating the oceans, and the oceans have been cooking.

The myth that global warming has slowed—which is frequently cited by climate deniers and perpetuated by "fundamentally flawed" studies that do not account for the warming of deep ocean waters—has had the dangerous effect of "lull[ing] many people into a false and unwarranted sense of security," writes Skeptical Science, "with many people wrongly believing global warming has paused when in reality it has accelerated."