in World News So About Those Oceans That Were Just About to Boil Away…
by Stephen Green
It seems like only last year [it was only last year, Steve —Editor] that we were all going to die because the oceans were literally figuratively boiling away. I’m not sure whether it was the massive amounts of steam that were supposed to kill us or the resulting Sharknado. I just know that whatever the oceans are doing, it’s a VERY BAD THING, even though the Great Barrier Reef seemed to love it. Seriously, the GBR is in better shape than it’s been in for years.
But now, “surface ocean temperatures are plunging rapidly around the world with scientists reported to be puzzled at the speed of the recent decline, according to Chris Morrison at The Daily Sceptic this week. “Less puzzlement was to be found when the oceans were ‘boiling’ during the last two years,” Morrison dryly noted.
When things are getting worse, climate scientists enjoy the certainty of knowing exactly what’s going on and why. When the trend lines improve, it’s a much less newsworthy mystery.
“Until recently, the surface sea temperature (SST) graph below showing measurements up the Arctic and down to Antarctica was rarely out of the public prints… This year the temperature shown by the black line flatlined until April compared with the substantial rise in orange for 2023. It then fell more sharply than last year and is now 0.2°C lower.”
You can play with the interactive chart here if you like.
For whatever reason, ocean temps are up a full degree Celsius or so since the mid-’80s but 2024 is showing cooling like we’ve never seen before. Then again, if our data only goes back to the mid-’80s, how much do we really know about oceans that are billions of years old, and surround continents that slowly drift around?