A popular tactic by climate change deniers is to say that the earth stopped warming 15 years ago. While its true global temperatures have flattened off in a way that scientists did not predict, earlier this month a team of researchers from the University of Washington discovered why.

University of Washington researchers used data from Project Argo, a fleet of over 3,500 robots patrolling the upper third of our ocean that relay temperature and salinity information to the surface via satellite, according to an Aug. 21 article from The Daily Digest News. With this information, they were able to conclude that around the same time the atmosphere’s warming leveled off, oceanic temperatures spiked

With only a small fraction of our ocean explored and already strong scientific evidence to support climate change, scientists must continue to emphasize oceanic exploration.

There is a current in the Atlantic Ocean running between the North and South poles that has historically absorbed heat reflected back to the earth from the greenhouse effect. In the last 15 years, this heat sinking cycle has sped up.

This information has been gathered while only having reliable information regarding the upper third of the ocean. However, an Aug. 11 New York Times article reported that two robotic prototypes able to dive to the bottom of the ocean have been deployed. They will supplement Project Argo and continue to relay temperature and salinity readings to the surface.

This is a potentially historic scientific breakthrough and a chance to uncover vital information regarding humanity’s impact on our planet. Hopefully, these new robotic prototypes will be successful and their production can expand.

Increased activity from this Atlantic current is not the only oceanic activity reinforcing the existence of climate change. A Sept. 2 Boston Globe article explains how our oceans are responsible for seemingly contradictory evidence when it comes to the warming of our earth.

Each pole has a vortex. Normally the North Pole’s vortex remains confined to the pole due to warmer air in the continental United States that acts as a buffer. But, as Arctic sea ice continues to melt, more heat is released from the ocean into the atmosphere, decreasing the difference in temperature between these two air currents. As a result, we are experiencing colder temperatures, leading many to assume that climate change, with its strong association with global warming, is a myth.

Climate change and global warming are often used synonymously when in fact, they are not synonymous at all. According to the NASA website, “global warming describes the average global surface temperature increase from human emissions of greenhouse gases.” Climate change simply refers to the long-term change in the earth’s climate, hotter or colder.

The main threat of climate change is not that the earth will burn up.

In fact, according to the Discovery Channel, further offsetting oceanic temperatures due to melting sea ice may disrupt the Gulf Stream, an underwater current transporting warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to Northern Europe. If this current were to slow down or cease to exist altogether, Europe would immediately become at serious risk of an ice age.

The ocean covers over 70 percent of our earth yet we have only explored between 5-7 percent of the ocean floor and .5 percent of the ocean itself. Determining our own impact on our environment has never been more of a pressing issue and studying the ocean should be our focus.

Azor Cole is a junior public relations major and geography minor. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at azcole@syr.edu.

 

 

Published on September 10, 2014 at 12:21 am