Global Warming is creating a climate time bomb by storing enormous amounts of heat in the waters of the north Atlantic, UK scientists have discovered. Marine researchers at Southampton and Plymouth universities have found that the upper 1,500 metres of the ocean from western Europe to the eastern US have warmed by 0.015C in seven years.
The capacity of the oceans to store heat means that a water temperature rise of that size is enough to warm the atmosphere above by almost 9C. Neil Wells, a scientist on the project at the National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton, said: “People might think it doesn’t sound like a big temperature rise but it’s very significant.”
The Southampton and Plymouth study suggests heat stored in the oceans could be released into the atmosphere in future, tempering efforts to stabilise global temperatures with cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.