Ocean Temperatures, Sea Levels are 50% Higher Than Previous Estimates

An exhaustive study, published in the journal Nature, has concluded that previous estimates of ocean temperatures and sea level rise have been significantly underestimated. After examining millions of ship-based measurements, a team of Australian and American researchers says that from 1961 to 2003, global sea level rose by 6.4 cm (2 ½ inches) and ocean temperatures increased by .4 C (.72 F) — both about 50 percent larger than earlier estimates. The scientists discovered the flaws in earlier estimates by comparing temperatures taken by non-research vessels, which had been used in calculating sea level and temperature increases, with data taken from research ships. That comparison revealed the inaccuracy of the data from non-research ships, which routinely take sea temperatures using an inexpensive instrument known as an XBT. The Nature findings are important because climate scientists have been puzzled for years why actual ocean temperatures and related sea level rises — seas expand as they warm — seemed to be lower than models had predicted. Scientists have long said the world’s oceans would absorb 90 percent of the heat trapped in the atmosphere by greenhouse gases and then slowly release it back onto the air.