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Post by marchesarosa on Sept 19, 2011 11:22:34 GMT 1
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Post by marchesarosa on Nov 15, 2011 19:12:51 GMT 1
ENSO, a bigger climate driver than once thoughtPosted on November 15, 2011 by Anthony Watts From the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science
University of Miami study rethinks the ocean’s role in Pacific climate MIAMI – November 15, 2011 – University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science researchers have climate scientists rethinking a commonly held theory about the ocean’s role in the global climate system. The new findings can aid scientists in better understanding and predicting changes in the Pacific climate and its impacts around the globe. According to the study’s lead author, UM Rosenstiel School Professor Amy Clement, the tropical atmospheric pressure system know as the Southern Oscillation (a periodic fluctuation of atmospheric pressure commonly observed as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, which brings unusually warm water across the Pacific Ocean basin) plays a bigger, more fundamental role in the climate system than just being El Niño’s atmospheric counterpart. more wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/15/enso-a-bigger-climate-driver-than-once-thought/Unfortunately the research consists of a comparison between two different models so not ACTUAL observations at all.
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Post by marchesarosa on Nov 26, 2011 16:27:35 GMT 1
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Post by nickrr on Nov 26, 2011 18:49:40 GMT 1
The author may have done some O-level science but I doubt that they passed. It's complete trash.
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Post by marchesarosa on Nov 26, 2011 21:00:11 GMT 1
Thanks for that helpful comment. But perhaps, you could explain WHY it is trash?
Is it because it contradicts the AGW hypothesis that the air warms the ocean rather than vice versa?
I don't know why you bother to post here since you never have anything useful to add to your habitual one-line denigration.
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Post by marchesarosa on Jul 20, 2012 17:55:19 GMT 1
From Jennifer Morohasy jennifermarohasy.com/2012/07/how-the-oceans-get-warm-robert-e-stevenson/#more-9764How the Oceans Get Warm: Robert E. StevensonTHERE are only ever a small number of scientists who can explain a phenomenon from first principles and these experts will often speak in jargon that is unintelligible[1]. But every so often one comes across a real expert who appears to not only have a deep understanding of a subject area, but can also write with clarity on that subject. The oceanographer the late Robert E. Stevenson [2] wrote a short article for Science and Technology Magazine in 2000 disputing the popular consensus on how the oceans warm [3]. In the following extract from ‘Yes, the Ocean has Warmed; No, It’s Not Global Warming’, Dr Stevenson claims that: 1. Sunlight directly heats the ocean to a certain depth, up to 100 metres; 2. The ocean heat balance is maintained by heat loss to the atmosphere, not to the deep ocean; and 3. Infrared radiation from greenhouse gases heats only the top few millimetres of the ocean and as a consequence is soon dissipated by evaporation. Quoting Dr Stevenson: “Warming the ocean is not a simple matter, not like heating a small glass of water. The first thing to remember is that the ocean is not warmed by the overlying air.
Let’s begin with radiant energy from two sources: sunlight, and infrared radiation, the latter emitted from the “greenhouse” gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and various others) in the lower atmosphere. Sunlight penetrates the water surface readily, and directly heats the ocean up to a certain depth. Around 3 percent of the radiation from the Sun reaches a depth of about 100 meters.
The top layer of the ocean to that depth warms up easily under sunlight. Below 100 meters, however, little radiant energy remains. The ocean becomes progressively darker and colder as the depth increases. It is typical for the ocean temperature in Hawaii to be 26°C (78°F) at the surface, and 15°C (59°F) at a depth of 150 meters.
The infrared radiation penetrates but a few millimeters into the ocean. This means that the greenhouse radiation from the atmosphere affects only the top few millimeters of the ocean. Water just a few centimeters deep receives none of the direct effect of the infrared thermal energy from the atmosphere! Further, it is in those top few millimeters in which evaporation takes places. So whatever infrared energy may reach the ocean as a result of the greenhouse effect is soon dissipated.
The concept proposed in some predictive models is that any anomalous heat in the mixed layer of the ocean (the upper 100 meters) might be lost to the deep ocean. There have been a number of studies in which this process has been addressed (Nakamura 1997; Tanimoto 1993; Trenberth 1994; Watanabi 1994; and White 1998). It is clear that solar-related variations in mixed-layer temperatures penetrate to between 80 to 160 meters, the average depth of the main pycnocline (density discontinuity) in the global ocean. Below these depths, temperature fluctuations become uncorrelated with solar signals, deeper penetration being restrained by the stratified barrier of the pycnocline.
Consequently, anomalous heat associated with changing solar irradiance is stored in the upper 100 meters. The heat balance is maintained by heat loss to the atmosphere, not to the deep ocean.” Resolving these issues is fundamental to understanding not only global warming but also the topical and related issue of ocean acidification.
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