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Ocean Warming is Accelerating Faster Than Thought, New Research Finds (nytimes.com)
Scientists say the warming of the world's oceans is accelerating more quickly than previously thought, a finding with dire implications for climate change given that almost all of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases ends up stored there. From a report: A new analysis, published Thursday in the journal Science, found that the oceans are heating up 40 percent faster on average than a United Nations panel estimated five years ago. The researchers also concluded that ocean temperatures have broken records for several straight years. "2018 is going to be the warmest year on record for the Earth's oceans," said Zeke Hausfather, an energy systems analyst at the independent climate research group Berkeley Earth and an author of the study. "As 2017 was the warmest year, and 2016 was the warmest year."
As the planet has warmed, the oceans have provided a critical buffer, slowing the effects of climate change by absorbing 93 percent of the heat trapped by human greenhouse gas emissions. But the escalating water temperatures are already killing off marine ecosystems, raising sea levels and making hurricanes more destructive.
Specifically that article said that the water that between 1.8 and 2.6 km below the pacific ocean surface was cooling at rate of around 0.02 degrees per century. If we assume all of the measurements are accurate, then the volume of water above 1.8 km and below 2.6 km would still be warming (at rates of about 0.4 degrees and 0.1 degrees per century, respectively), so the other parts of the pacific represent a larger volume of water and they are warming faster than this smaller band is cooling, and that means that there is more than enough warming water to offset the smaller band of cooling water. So overall the ocean is warming, even though there is band of water that hasn't seen the surface in 200-1000 years that is still cooling.
Fanatically anti-fanatical
It's a perfectly valid question to ask, which has a complex answer that I can't summarise very well here.
But the gist is: you are thinking about weather (local, seasonal change). They are talking about climate (the sum of all whether for a large region/the planet, over a longer period. Years, decades)
What you say and what you experience IS TRUE. But you can't hold in your mind the variations that happen over decades all over the world, human brains just don't normally do it. We can focus only on more immediate things, like the weather in the area where you live. That's why people record these things.
Over time, the average has been raising. But keep in mind that an average is the sum of many parts, which means that there will be places where it's a lot more or a lot less. Also keep in mind that you won't be able to tell the difference reliably from memory vs 50 years ago if the average change is one or two degrees.
Next, some species are more fine tuned to specific conditions. Their body chemistry and metabolism and reproduction cycles developed over millennia in more or less stable conditions, and for them, these changes you don't notice are a big deal.
Finally, climate change isn't the only problem. Pollution and acidification also change their environment, making it difficult to maintain their usual way of living. Then there is overfishing. And these are just direct factors. Things like rain, wind and ocean currents are affected by fluid dynamics that can change by a lot at global scale.
So, yes, your questions are reasonable, but there isn't a yes/no answer.
Pretty much everything you said is wrong.
It isn't new information. The newest citations are in 2016
Nope. There are 15 citations. Three are from 2018. Two are from 2017. Did you think nobody would check?
and they're citing studies that were done entirely with models... that is not data.The data being cited is often about ten or more years older.
Wrong again. I did a quick skim of the Google Search links provided in the bibliography. My rough guess is that about half of them discuss data, and the other half discuss models that include comparisons to data. A couple of titles had the word 'prediction'.
Models are not data, but they are built and tested with data.
article title says "Ocean Warming is Accelerating Faster Than Thought, New Research Finds "
Yes, the NYT article. But the article in Science has the title "How fast are the oceans warming?"
The research is not "new"... it is old stuff in a new box.
False. See above.
How many people that actually cite this stuff actually read any of it? I feel they're headline readers. Do better.
Oh the irony. I'll just let that stand.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Really, no one cares. It's a worry for worriers.
Nothing can be done about it anyway, at least within the bounds of the politically possible
That comment reminds me of the scene in Austin Powers where the steam roller ever so slowly moves towards a man who is screaming in terror rooted in spot instead of running away, despite having plenty of time.
It's not like we haven't known about Global Warming for decades now, but we haven't shifted policy an inch. There are things we can be doing, but we're like that man waving his arms around screaming as 1mph steam roller slowly inches towards him.
"That's the way to do it" - Punch