[lodsemelf]

By Dr. Roy Spencer, PhD
The following plot shows global average sea surface temperatures from the AMSR-E instrument over the lifetime of the Aqua satellite, through Dec 31, 2010. The SSTs at the end of December suggest that the tropospheric temperatures in the previous graph (see post here) still have a ways to fall in the coming months to catch up to the ocean, which should now be approaching its coolest point if it follows the course of previous La Nina’s. http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/01/0...inues-to-drop/

AMSRE_SST_thru_Dec_10.jpg

Anything more recent?

[lodsemelf]

Pretty good article here from the other side of the fence...


On the subject of the drop-off in temperatures seen in the AMSR-E data in the last week, I have been getting questions about the daily AMSU tracking data at the Discover website which shows Aqua AMSU channel 5 (which our monthly updates are computed from) is now entering record-low territory (for the date, anyway, and only since the Aqua record began in 2002). While I have always cautioned people against reading too much into week-to-week changes in global average temperature, this could portend a more significant drop in the next (October) temperature update, as the new La Nina approaches.

http://www.drroyspencer.com/2011/10/

[lodsemelf]

The Mystery of Global Warming's Missing Heat


Some 3,000 scientific robots that are plying the ocean have sent home a puzzling message. These diving instruments suggest that the oceans have not warmed up at all over the past four or five years. That could mean global warming has taken a breather. Or it could mean scientists aren't quite understanding what their robots are telling them.


This is puzzling in part because here on the surface of the Earth, the years since 2003 have been some of the hottest on record. But Josh Willis at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the oceans are what really matter when it comes to global warming.


In fact, 80 percent to 90 percent of global warming involves heating up ocean waters. They hold much more heat than the atmosphere can. So Willis has been studying the ocean with a fleet of robotic instruments called the Argo system. The buoys can dive 3,000 feet down and measure ocean temperature. Since the system was fully deployed in 2003, it has recorded no warming of the global oceans.

"There has been a very slight cooling, but not anything really significant," Willis says. So the buildup of heat on Earth may be on a brief hiatus. "Global warming doesn't mean every year will be warmer than the last. And it may be that we are in a period of less rapid warming."


In recent years, heat has actually been flowing out of the ocean and into the air. This is a feature of the weather phenomenon known as El Nino. So it is indeed possible the air has warmed but the ocean has not. But it's also possible that something more mysterious is going on.


That becomes clear when you consider what's happening to global sea level. Sea level rises when the oceans get warm because warmer water expands. This accounts for about half of global sea level rise. So with the oceans not warming, you would expect to see less sea level rise. Instead, sea level has risen about half an inch in the past four years. That's a lot.
Willis says some of this water is apparently coming from a recent increase in the melting rate of glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica.
"But in fact there's a little bit of a mystery. We can't account for all of the sea level increase we've seen over the last three or four years," he says.


One possibility is that the sea has, in fact, warmed and expanded — and scientists are somehow misinterpreting the data from the diving buoys.


But if the aquatic robots are actually telling the right story, that raises a new question: Where is the extra heat all going?
Kevin Trenberth at the National Center for Atmospheric Research says it's probably going back out into space. The Earth has a number of natural thermostats, including clouds, which can either trap heat and turn up the temperature, or reflect sunlight and help cool the planet.


That can't be directly measured at the moment, however.


"Unfortunately, we don't have adequate tracking of clouds to determine exactly what role they've been playing during this period," Trenberth says.


It's also possible that some of the heat has gone even deeper into the ocean, he says. Or it's possible that scientists need to correct for some other feature of the planet they don't know about. It's an exciting time, though, with all this new data about global sea temperature, sea level and other features of climate.


"I suspect that we'll able to put this together with a little bit more perspective and further analysis," Trenberth says. "But what this does is highlight some of the issues and send people back to the drawing board."


Trenberth and Willis agree that a few mild years have no effect on the long-term trend of global warming. But they say there are still things to learn about how our planet copes with the heat.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=88520025

[Lotyqnag]

What this means is that they don't have a clue. More funding please!

[zueqhbyhp]

We need more chemtrails damn it. How else will we tax the goys into real serfdom.

[Nutpoode]

Sun spots represent a cooler sun which is happening now.

Its cold where I am and Im not even in the water..........

[lodsemelf]

On a Thursday evening in February 2007, Josh Willis stood in front of his laptop, his wife cajoling him to get ready to go out to dinner. He looked with a sinking feeling at the map he had just made. Willis, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, specializes in making estimates of how much heat the ocean stores from year to year.

heat_content.jpg

"According to the float data on his computer screen, almost the entire Atlantic Ocean had gone cold. Unless you believe The Day After Tomorrow, Willis jokes, impossibly cold."
The myth and facts about the "speed bump"
“Oh, no,” he remembers saying.

“What’s wrong?” his wife asked.

“I think ocean cooling isn’t real.”

More adjusted numbers at link...

http://ossfoundation.us/projects/env.../ocean-cooling

[BEKREUNSEPBERw]

The following page shows with little doubt (to those who are diagram crunchers), that we are on the way to a period with a significantly quieter sun.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/reference-pages/solar/

In 5 to 10 years those on higher latitudes may experience years without summers...

[eduptultyt]

Throughout the summer here in Southern California, the water temp has been 68-70 with some days in the low 70's. I'd say 66-68 is normal. I can't remember the last time I donned a wetsuit.

[lodsemelf]

Throughout the summer here in Southern California, the water temp has been 68-70 with some days in the low 70's. I'd say 66-68 is normal. I can't remember the last time I donned a wetsuit.

Downstream from that old nuke plant overheating?

[Gypejeva]

"According to the float data on his computer screen, almost the entire Atlantic Ocean had gone cold.

Well, seeing that the BP oil spill killed the Gulf of Mexico and the flow of warm water from it up the East coast, it is no surprise.