Geophysics - Atlantic warmer than a hot tub

The scientists of geophysics have always studied about earth in a quantitative manner.

They have recently found out that the temperature of Atlantic Ocean has reached around 42 degree C which is about 14 deg C higher than the temperatures of ocean and it is warmer than a hot tub.

This surprisingly high temperature in the oceans is the highest on Earth and occurred millions of years ago due to the high carbon dioxide level of the atmosphere of earth.

The researchers are expecting this to go even higher in future than that is anticipated due to the heating of oceans by green house gases.

The result of the study shows the underestimation of future warming by the climate models.

The Paleoclimatologist, Karen Bice has observed that the temperature reported in Atlantic Ocean is off the chart from what have noticed before. Their team of scientists researched on the sediment collected from the seafloor.

The study on the sediments showed that they consisted of organic matter rich in carbon and had unusually high amounts of this matter accumulated in it.

They also consisted of the shells of the fossilized organisms which have accumulated on the surface of the sea floor from millions of years ago.

They studied on the isotopic nature of the shells and traced the chemistry of the elements.

These features are supposed to change with the change in the temperature on the surface of the water which was their main ecosystem.

The temperature of the oceans at the time when dinosaurs dominated the Earth was found out to be between 33 deg C and 42 deg C.

They have found out that the temperatures in the same region is around 28 deg C now akin to the rising temperature of a hottub (markisen.com).

The same organic matter was put to study to find out the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

This created a situation where the scientists were put to tension on how this variation in carbon dioxide will increase the climate on earth’s environment.

They have also reported that if the previous studies were provided correct and accurate, the expectations of increase in temperature in ocean in the future will be even higher.

The studies also point to the change of the hydrologic cycle in earth. Winter storms and hurricanes are expected to increase in intensity due to temperature rise.

They have observed from the studies that the temperature in the warm periods in olden times have released methane gas to the atmosphere and this gas is capable of absorbing temperature to a higher extent than carbon dioxide.

This is missed out by the models. The high hottubs -like temperature in the Atlantic Ocean found out 91 million years ago were not inferred from this model of high methane content in the atmosphere.

This means that the model is underestimating the response of the system to climatic conditions.

The research team consisted of Bice and Kristina Dahl. Work of Bice was supported by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution with their private funding.

Funding was provided with the help of Joint Oceanographic Institutions U.S Science Support Program.