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Oceans

How much of the recent CO2 increase is due to human activities?

7 Jun 2005 by group

Translations: (Français)

Contributed by Corinne Le Quéré, University of East Anglia.

This question keeps coming back, although we know the answer very well: all of the recent CO2 increase in the atmosphere is due to human activities, in spite of the fact that both the oceans and the land biosphere respond to global warming. There is a lot of evidence to support this statement which has been explained in a previous posting here and in a letter in Physics Today . However, the most convincing arguments for scientists (based on isotopes and oxygen decreases in the atmosphere) may be hard to understand for the general public because they require a high level of scientific knowledge. I present simpler evidence of the same statement based on ocean observations, and I explain how we know that not only part of the atmospheric CO2 increase is due to human activities, but all of it.

[Read more…] about How much of the recent CO2 increase is due to human activities?

Filed Under: Climate Science, FAQ, Greenhouse gases, Oceans

Gulf Stream slowdown?

26 May 2005 by Gavin

Translations: (Français)

There has been an overwhelming popular demand for us to weigh in on recent reports in the Times Britain faces big chill as ocean current slows and CNN Changes in Gulf Stream could chill Europe (note the interesting shift in geographical perspective!).

[Read more…] about Gulf Stream slowdown?

Filed Under: Climate Science, FAQ, Oceans, Paleoclimate

Planetary energy imbalance?

3 May 2005 by Gavin


The recent paper in Science Express by Hansen et al (on which I am a co-author) has garnered quite a lot of press attention and has been described as the ‘smoking gun’ for anthropogenic climate change. We have discussed many of the relevant issues here before, but it may be useful to go over the arguments again here.

The key points of the paper are that: i) model simulations with 20th century forcings are able to match the surface air temperature record, ii) they also match the measured changes of ocean heat content over the last decade, iii) the implied planetary imbalance (the amount of excess energy the Earth is currently absorbing) which is roughly equal to the ocean heat uptake, is significant and growing, and iv) this implies both that there is significant heating “in the pipeline”, and that there is an important lag in the climate’s full response to changes in the forcing.

[Read more…] about Planetary energy imbalance?

Filed Under: Climate modelling, Climate Science, Greenhouse gases, Oceans

Why looking for global warming in the oceans is a good idea

23 Feb 2005 by Gavin

Translations: (Français)

A lot of press and commentary came out this week concerning a presentation and press release from Tim Barnett and Scripps colleagues presenting at the AAAS meeting (The Independent, John Fleck ,(and again) David Appell…etc). Why did this get so much attention given that there is no actual paper yet?

[Read more…] about Why looking for global warming in the oceans is a good idea

Filed Under: Climate modelling, Climate Science, Oceans

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