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Related: About this forumThe Oceans Warmed up Sharply in 2013: We're Going to Need a Bigger Graph
The Oceans Warmed up Sharply in 2013: We're Going to Need a Bigger Graph
Posted on 31 January 2014 by Rob Painting
Because the oceans cover some 71% of the Earth's surface and are capable of retaining heat around a thousand times that of the atmosphere, the oceans are where most of the energy from global warming is going - 93.4% over recent decades. So greenhouse gases emitted by human industrial activity not only cause more heat to become trapped in the atmosphere, they also cause more of the sun's energy to accumulate in the oceans.
Long-term the oceans have been gaining heat at a rate equivalent to about 2 Hiroshima bombs per second, although this has increased over the last 16 or so years to around 4 per second. In 2013 ocean warming rapidly escalated, rising to a rate in excess of 12 Hiroshima bombs per second - over three times the recent trend. This doesn't necessarily mean we are entering a period of greatly accelerated ocean warming, as there is substantial year-to-year variation in heat uptake by the oceans. It does, however, once again dispel the persistent myth of a pause in global warming, because the Earth has actually continued to warm faster in the last 16 years than it did in the preceding 16 years.
more...
http://www.skepticalscience.com/The-Oceans-Warmed-up-Sharply-in-2013-We-are-Going-to-Need-a-Bigger-Graph.html
2naSalit
(86,607 posts)babylonsister
(171,065 posts)2naSalit
(86,607 posts)I'm not surprised by in the least.
babylonsister
(171,065 posts)that it's happening. Sucks.
yeoman6987
(14,449 posts)The United States has done SOME to stop the Global Warming but of course we need to do more. However, Russia and China need to step up and do something. If we do everything and they don't we are still screwed. And trying to get Russia to do anything is going to be impossible.
2naSalit
(86,607 posts)that doesn't surprise me.
babylonsister
(171,065 posts)am aware and agog that this news isn't more important, as usual.
pscot
(21,024 posts)where the "missing" heat went.