Ocean warming

Yet Another Large Jump in Ocean Warming

David Appell ,

20 January, 2014

The fourth-quarter result for 0-700 meter ocean heat content is in already, and it shows another large increase from a year earlier.

The 12-month increase is 2.38 × 10²² Joules, the largest jump since 3Q 2006. It works out to 1.48 W/m² over the Earth's entire surface area.

 A better indicator will be, as usual, the 0-2000 m OHC value, compromising the top half of the World Ocean.

Given this, though, it's difficult to understand Judith Curry's recent statement to the Senate EPW Committee that:

The stagnation in greenhouse warming observed over the past 15+ years demonstrates that CO2 is not a control knob on climate variability on decadal time scales.

Sure, climate models could do a better job of simulating short-term surface temperatures -- though long-term projections are far more important than short-term projections