If this new study is to be believed, then mankind is lucky because the accelerated absorption has kept those of us on the surface of the Earth cooler.
But even though this may be true, we could be looking at a ticking time bomb that will disrupt weather and climate on a global scale, according to the study.
“We estimate that half of the total global ocean heat uptake since 1865 has accumulated since 1997,” a team of scientists led by Peter Gleckler of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California reported.
The team estimated that a third of the recent build up of heat has occurred at depths of 700 meters (2297 feet) or greater, beyond the reach of sunlight. This might explain the hiatus in warming at the ocean’s surface, at least since the end of the 20th century. Some see this as an overall slowdown in warming, reports Discovery News.
The study was primarily based on observation, as well as the collected data from the 19th century HMS Challenger expedition launched in 1872 by Britain’s Royal Society. Circumnavigating the globe, the scientific endeavor made 263 serial water temperature observations.
More recent data covering many decades came from ship’s logs and Argo floats scattered across the oceans. Argo floats, an international collaboration with over 30 nations, have been utilized since the early 2000s to observe the temperature, salinity, and currents of the world’s oceans.
This could be a mixed blessing
The oceans have absorbed more than 90 percent of the excess heat generated from man-made greenhouse gasses. And this is what has kept the world livable for humanity. “It’s a bit of a mixed blessing,” said John Shepherd, a researcher at the University of Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre, who was not involved in the study.
Shepherd points out that the ocean’s ability to absorb heat is limited, and at some point the oceans will start releasing that heat back into the atmosphere. At current rates, the Earth is on track for a three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) rise in temperature by the end of this century.
New Vision is reporting that Matt Palmer, a climate scientist at Britain’s national Met Office also commented on the study. Palmer said the study “shows the strengthening of the climate change signal over time, and that more of this signal is finding its way into the deep ocean.”
A not so pleasant bit of information gleaned from the study is that even if the world were to stop spewing carbon pollution into the atmosphere, oceans will continue to heat up, apparently for a long time. This is because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for a very long time.
This interesting study, “Industrial-era global ocean heat uptake doubles in recent decades,” was published in the journal Nature Climate Change on January 18, 2016.
