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135 years of global ocean warming between the Challenger expedition and the Argo Programme

135 years of global ocean warming between the Challenger expedition and the Argo Programme
135 years of global ocean warming between the Challenger expedition and the Argo Programme
Changing temperature throughout the oceans is a key indicator of climate change. Since the 1960s about 90% of the excess heat added to the Earth’s climate system has been stored in the oceans1, 2. The ocean’s dominant role over the atmosphere, land, or cryosphere comes from its high heat capacity and ability to remove heat from the sea surface by currents and mixing. The longest interval over which instrumental records of subsurface global-scale temperature can be compared is the 135 years between the voyage of HMS Challenger3 (1872–1876) and the modern data set of the Argo Programme4 (2004–2010). Argo’s unprecedented global coverage permits its comparison with any earlier measurements. This, the first global-scale comparison of Challenger and modern data, shows spatial mean warming at the surface of 0.59?°C±0.12, consistent with previous estimates5 of globally averaged sea surface temperature increase. Below the surface the mean warming decreases to 0.39?°C±0.18 at 366?m (200?fathoms) and 0.12?°C±0.07 at 914?m (500?fathoms). The 0.33?°C±0.14 average temperature difference from 0 to 700?m is twice the value observed globally in that depth range over the past 50 years6, implying a centennial timescale for the present rate of global warming. Warming in the Atlantic Ocean is stronger than in the Pacific. Systematic errors in the Challenger data mean that these temperature changes are a lower bound on the actual values. This study underlines the scientific significance of the Challenger expedition and the modern Argo Programme and indicates that globally the oceans have been warming at least since the late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century.
Cryospheric science, Detection and Attribution, Earth sciences, Oceanography
1758-678X
425-428
Roemmich, Dean
d0653b3d-d7ed-48b3-9d87-6d426f67bd13
Gould, W. John
cc78ab8c-2258-4d84-97ea-6c7c1a64db48
Gilson, John
929d9db1-2ce0-4f57-9c21-4849125054a1
Roemmich, Dean
d0653b3d-d7ed-48b3-9d87-6d426f67bd13
Gould, W. John
cc78ab8c-2258-4d84-97ea-6c7c1a64db48
Gilson, John
929d9db1-2ce0-4f57-9c21-4849125054a1

Roemmich, Dean, Gould, W. John and Gilson, John (2012) 135 years of global ocean warming between the Challenger expedition and the Argo Programme. Nature Climate Change, 2, 425-428. (doi:10.1038/nclimate1461).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Changing temperature throughout the oceans is a key indicator of climate change. Since the 1960s about 90% of the excess heat added to the Earth’s climate system has been stored in the oceans1, 2. The ocean’s dominant role over the atmosphere, land, or cryosphere comes from its high heat capacity and ability to remove heat from the sea surface by currents and mixing. The longest interval over which instrumental records of subsurface global-scale temperature can be compared is the 135 years between the voyage of HMS Challenger3 (1872–1876) and the modern data set of the Argo Programme4 (2004–2010). Argo’s unprecedented global coverage permits its comparison with any earlier measurements. This, the first global-scale comparison of Challenger and modern data, shows spatial mean warming at the surface of 0.59?°C±0.12, consistent with previous estimates5 of globally averaged sea surface temperature increase. Below the surface the mean warming decreases to 0.39?°C±0.18 at 366?m (200?fathoms) and 0.12?°C±0.07 at 914?m (500?fathoms). The 0.33?°C±0.14 average temperature difference from 0 to 700?m is twice the value observed globally in that depth range over the past 50 years6, implying a centennial timescale for the present rate of global warming. Warming in the Atlantic Ocean is stronger than in the Pacific. Systematic errors in the Challenger data mean that these temperature changes are a lower bound on the actual values. This study underlines the scientific significance of the Challenger expedition and the modern Argo Programme and indicates that globally the oceans have been warming at least since the late-nineteenth or early-twentieth century.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 1 April 2012
Published date: 2012
Keywords: Cryospheric science, Detection and Attribution, Earth sciences, Oceanography
Organisations: Marine Physics and Ocean Climate

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 336784
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/336784
ISSN: 1758-678X
PURE UUID: ba6fd2d1-e7a6-4302-bc0f-97fac526950e

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Date deposited: 04 Apr 2012 08:28
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 10:46

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Contributors

Author: Dean Roemmich
Author: W. John Gould
Author: John Gilson

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