image: New Caledonia, Coral Sea in the Pacific Ocean. view more
Credit: Image courtesy of Laure Zanna.
Researchers report a reconstruction of ocean heat storage since 1871. Oceans are the planet's primary heat sink. However, thermal sampling of oceans has historically been mostly confined to the top 700 meters, with little attention focused on the storage and transport processes that occur at greater depths. Laure Zanna and colleagues used ocean circulation models together with observed surface temperatures to reconstruct a full-depth profile of temperature history dating back to 1871. The authors estimated the 1955-2017 average rate of heat absorption to be around 0.3 W/m2 in the upper 2,000 meters and around one-tenth of that value below 2,000 meters. The authors report that oceans gained heat during the years 1921-1946 at the same rate as since 1990. Since the 1950s, up to half of the warming in the mid-latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean, along with the associated thermal expansion and sea level rise, can be attributed to changes in ocean circulation that have concentrated heat in the region. According to the authors, uncovering ocean circulation changes can help predict future patterns of warming and sea level rise.
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Article #18-08838: "Global reconstruction of historical ocean heat storage and transport," by Laure Zanna, Samar Khatiwala, Jonathan Gregory, Jonathan Ison, and Patrick Heimbach.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Laure Zanna, University of Oxford, UNITED KINGDOM; e-mail: Laure.Zanna@physics.ox.ac.uk; Jonathan Gregory, University of Reading, UNITED KINGDOM; e-mail: j.m.gregory@reading.ac.uk
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences