Ocean is are a huge and critical piece of the climate change puzzle, and a huge reservoir of heat and carbon dioxide which is the most abundant greenhouse gas. But it has been a huge technical challenge to collect accurate and sufficient data about the ocean to provide climate and weather models.
Over the years, though, a basic picture of ocean heating patterns has emerged. The sun’s infrared, visible and ultraviolet radiation warms the oceans, especially the heat absorbed in the Earth’s lower latitudes and eastern regions of huge ocean basins. Due to wind-driven ocean currents and large-scale circulation patterns, heat is typically driven to the west and poles and gets lost as it escapes into the atmosphere and space.
This heat loss comes primarily from a combination of evaporation and re-radiation into space. This oceanic heat flow helps make the planet habitable by smoothing out local and seasonal temperature extremes. However, the transport of heat through the ocean and its eventual upward loss are affected by many factors, such as the mixing and churning ability of currents and winds to move heat downward into the ocean. The result is that any model of climate change is unlikely to be accurate unless these complex processes are detailed. And that’s a terrifying challenge, especially since Earth’s five oceans cover 360 million square kilometers, or 71% of the planet’s surface.
People can see a clear impact of the greenhouse gas effect in the ocean. This is very clear when scientists measure from the surface all the way down and around the globe.
Frankstar Technology is engaged in providing marine equipment and relevant technical services. We focus on marine observation and ocean monitoring. Our expectation is to provide accurate and stable data for a better understanding of our fantastic ocean.
Post time: Jul-18-2022