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How the Pacific has paused global warming on hold (but not for long)
Although temperatures on Earth are higher than ever, the ocean is playing a major role in absorbing
excess heat, a new study suggests
Changes in the flow of heat between the atmosphere and the Pacific Ocean could help to explain
the recent "pause" in global warming that has seen a fall in the rate at which global surface
temperatures has risen over the past 15 years or so, a study has suggested.
The current global warming hiatus, where the increase in global temperatures has levelled off, can
be explained at least in part by natural changes to a cold Pacific Ocean current called La Nina
which may have helped to absorb excess heat from the atmosphere, scientists said.
It is further evidence that the deep ocean may be playing a major role in helping to dampen down
temperature rises at the surface. A previous study for instance found that the heat being absorbed
by the deep ocean is equivalent to the power generated by 150 billion electric kettles.
Although global average temperatures are now higher than they have ever been since modern
records began, they have not increased as fast over the past 10 or 15 years as some climate
models have predicted, leading climate "sceptics" to claim that global warming has stopped.
Climate scientists have countered by saying that the last decades was still warmer than any previous
decade, with 12 of the 14 hottest years on record occurring since 2000, and that periods of natural
variability, with temperatures falling temporarily, are always to be expected.
