https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/ Fri, 08 Jan 2016 17:06:01 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488471 Fri, 08 Jan 2016 17:06:01 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488471 […] The biggest single factor that imposes a squiggle on the upward trending line of surface temperature is the interaction between the atmosphere and the ocean. Close to 100% of the extra heat added to the Earth’s system by global warming ends up in the world’s oceans. The heat is moved into the ocean because the surface warms up (from the sun) but surface water is constantly being mixed into lower levels of the ocean, and visa versa. When it comes to the Earth’s surface temperature, the ocean is the dog and the surface is the tail. […]

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488470 Tue, 18 Aug 2015 16:46:18 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488470 […] dioxide) is divided between the ocean and the surface, with the ocean taking up much of that heat. I liken the system to a dog with a wagging tail. The ocean is the dog, the surface temperatures, making up a small part of the overall system and […]

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488469 Fri, 15 May 2015 12:15:58 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488469 […] gas pollution. We can measure the greenhouse gas concentrations (mainly CO2) and we can measure surface warming and upper ocean warming. But global warming should have a number of additional indicators, […]

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488468 Thu, 26 Feb 2015 21:26:50 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488468 […] There are several different factors that may cause the shorter term squiggles that we see superimposed on the longer term warming trend. The sun’s energy varies over decades, and this contributes a small amount to the variation. Aerosols (dust), either from human activities or volcanic activity, can produce a cooling effect, and this effect varies across time. If you look at the graph of temperatures, you’ll see a strong downward trend associated with the vast eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, for example. A third source of variation in the upward march of the Earth’s temperature is not really a source of cooling or heating at all, but rather, a shift in where the heat goes. The graph on the top of this post is of “surface temperature,” which is a combination of land-based thermometers at roughly head-height, located at weather stations around the world, and sea surface temperatures. But well over 90% of the heat added to the Earth’s system by the human-caused greenhouse effect actually ends up in the ocean. A small percentage of variation in how much heat goes into, or comes out of, the ocean can cause a large variation in the “surface temperature.” You can think of the surface temperature measurements as a relatively small tail attached to a rather large dog, where the dog is the ocean and the tail is the land based thermometers and the sea surface. (I’ve developed this analogy here.) […]

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488467 Thu, 22 Jan 2015 19:33:11 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488467 […] indicator of change over time, and for historical reasons this is a measurement we use. But it is like the tail of the dog, where the dog is the ocean, where the other 90% or so of heat resides. John Abraham just posted a commentary on the most […]

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488466 Mon, 19 Jan 2015 19:25:43 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488466 […] that the surface temperatures are a bit like the tail of the dog, where the dog itself is the sea. I wrote about this here. Meanwhile, there is strong evidence that the top 2000 meters or so of the oceans is indeed taking […]

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488465 Tue, 08 Apr 2014 22:15:01 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488465 […] be the result of short term changes in exactly where the heat goes. (I discuss this in detail here: The Ocean is the Dog. Atmospheric Temperature is the Tail and About That Global Warming Hiatus… […]

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488464 Sat, 06 Jul 2013 21:53:15 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488464 […] for focusing on the 2% of global warming represented by surface air temperatures.  Consider the analogy offered by Greg Laden, that the planet is a dog and surface temperatures are his tail.  In the past we only had a […]

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488463 Sat, 06 Jul 2013 18:23:52 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488463 […] settle for focusing on the 2% of global warming represented by surface air temperatures.  Consider the analogy offered by Greg Laden, that the planet is a dog and surface temperatures are his tail.  In the past we only had a GPS […]

]]> https://gregladen.com/blog/2013/06/19/the-earth-is-the-dog-atmospheric-temperature-is-the-tail/#comment-488462 Tue, 25 Jun 2013 01:38:17 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/?p=16993#comment-488462 […] for focusing on the 2 percent of global warming represented by surface air temperatures. Consider the analogy offered by Greg Laden, that the planet is a dog and surface temperatures are his tail. In the past we only had a GPS […]

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