The world’s oceans have warmed dramatically over the past 40 years, according to a major new study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, published today in the journal Science. The study of long-term ocean temperature data, the first of its kind to be conducted on a global scale, confirms what many scientists have long believed — that the world’s oceans have soaked up much of the global warming of the last four decades. The research provides new evidence that computer models may be on target when they predict the planet’s warming. Some experts believe that about half of greenhouse warming is being absorbed by the oceans and will inevitably percolate to the air in the coming decades.
