"The problem, of course, is that the oceans are not getting warmer. "
Yeah they are. In my Physical Oceanography class in the mid-1970s, we were taught that mean sea level had risen about 18 cm. since 1900, mainly due to thermal expansion. That was something that was considered to rank right up there with the constant concentration of the top 20 ions.
en.wikipedia.org
Oceanographers are obsessive about measurement. Now, granted, at the time all they really knew was sea level had been rising. The only plausible explanation was thermal expansion because there wasn't any significant melting of land ice at the time. When they evaluated the data, they found that average night time temperatures have been on the rise. Day time temps. fluctuated a lot, and had even gone down for extended periods of time. But not so much with night time temps. And, in retrospect, you would expect night time temps. to be most affected by an increase in greenhouse gasses. At the time, they hadn't made the connect with increases in atmospheric CO2. But, marine science and oceanography is like that. It is still primarily observational. Putting the data together in ways that makes sense isn't easy. But that doesn't stop them from collecting the data.
And the rising sea level was something that sort of jumps right out at you.
This is why I find the controversy over global warming so amazing. This isn't new, I've known about it for 3 decades. And I learned it as an undergrad, it wasn't anything cutting edge. |
