![]() ForĮxample, in 1897 a geologist pointed out that a deviation of the Gulf Long list of possible causes, and some made this the linchpin. Sought explanations for climate change included sea changes in their Oceans could bring moisture and heat to neighboring lands. The first thing scientists recognized was how winds passing over the Physics also drives the oceans to move heat poleward, carrying much more energy than the winds but much more slowly.Ĭentury that the significance of these simple facts for weather and climate became clear. The atmosphere has a pattern of winds, a general circulation that operates to move heat energy from the tropics toward the poles. The ocean waters, like the air, are in constant motion. Is there too, of course, and even most of the gases, dissolved in The top few meters alone store as much heat energy as the entire atmosphere,Īnd the oceans average 3.7 kilometers deep. Of climate? Not in the Earth's tenuous atmosphere, but in the oceans. Once scientists asked the question and it was not an obvious Surprises? (1980s) - Realistic Ocean Models - Problems and Prospects Subsections: Eternal Seas (1900-1950) - Change in the Oceans (1950s-1960s) - MappingĪnd Modeling the Circulation (1970s) - Unpleasant That there are separate essays for the topics ice More acidic, exactly as predicted by the greenhouse gas theory. Was much more certain was that the oceans were rapidly warming and growing Improved modelsĬalculated that this was unlikely to happen in the 21st century, although some slowing was observed. Such a switch, which could wreak serious harm. Fears arose that global warming might trigger Models, showed that the North Atlantic circulation could come to an abrupt halt In the 1980s, evidence from Greenland ice cores, supported by crude computer Of the complex and surprisingly fragile circulation of the world-ocean. New theoretical ideas, suggested that ocean current patterns might shift Studies of clay extracted from the seabed, supported by It seemed that the tremendous masses of water could Not take the oceans fully into account, simply because very little was ![]() But for a long time, discussions of climate change did On our watery planet the climate is governed largelyīy the oceans. ![]()
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