Oceans: The Great Unknown

We know less about the dark blue expanse that covers over 70% of our planet, than we do about space. How crazy is that? The oceans are our planets largest ecosystem. According to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration, to date, we have explored approximately 5% of our oceans. 5% of something that is the lifeblood of Earth and humankind! 5% of something that has been mopping up the carbon dioxide we’ve been pumping into the atmosphere since we began burning fossil fuels! For these reasons my exploration into the oceans begins. Specifically, the warming of the oceans which has accelerated since the Industrial Revolution.  

The oceans have been somewhat neglected when it comes to thinking about our warming planet, until now. A small increase in water temperature takes a massive amount of energy in comparison to the equivalent increase in land temperature.  To put things into perspective, when the oceans temperatures dropped by only a seemingly insignificant 1-2 degrees  the Earth was plunged into what is known as the Little Ice Age.  

If, like me, you’ve ever taken a dip in the water off of UK shores, you would be excused at thinking the water a degree or two warmer might make things a whole lot more bearable. But in reality what do rising sea temperatures around the world mean to the world we live? Over the next few months I will delve into the different implications this is having and discuss the different modelling techniques used to analyse data. 

It’s time to Sea The Bigger Picture. 

Components of  global warming for the period 1993 to 2003 calculated from IPCC AR4 5.2.2.3

Source: John Cook, Skeptical Science