http://grist.org/news/this-chart-of-rising-ocean-temperatures-is-terrifying/
This year’s biggest climate change news was that 2014 was hottest year on record. Turns out, there’s bigger news: It was also the hottest year in the oceans, which are warming so fast they’re literally breaking the NOAA’s charts.
Don’t think you mind a little jacuzzification in your ocean? You’re wrong. Warmer oceans matter because “global warming” doesn’t just mean above average air temperatures over the course of a year — it actually refers to an increase in the total amount of heat energy contained in the Earth’s systems. While air temperatures can fluctuate on any given year, they are usually matched by an increase or decrease of the amount of heat stored in the oceans (which, by the way, absorb around 90 percent of total global warming heat). To know whether the system as a whole is getting warmer or not, scientists need to take into account the temperatures of the atmosphere, land, AND oceans.
Luckily, NOAA has been tracking ocean energy data for decades, updating its charts every few months. Unluckily, the newest data shows that, on top of 2014’s record-breaking air temperatures, ocean temperatures have also increased — to put it in layman’s terms — a shit ton. The spike is so significant that NOAA will have to rescale its heat chart.
OK, people. We don’t want to sound like a broken record about the reality of climate change … and actually this time we don’t have to. This is one broken record that speaks for itself.
The oceans are warming so fast, they keep breaking scientists’ charts, The Guardian.
Exposing the Big Game 
Ok, help me out here. If this is true (and I’m not doubting it necessarily) then how come we who live on the Northeast (Me: Massachusetts) got HAMMERED this winter with 110+ inches of snow?
Lucky you! Meanwhile, we skiers out West would love to have gotten even half that much snow this winter. But, while we’re in the middle of a drought (including a snow drought), you on the East coast are also seeing a major effect of climate change–the polar vortex is giving you the cold snowy weather that should be in the Arctic. Meanwhile, Alaska (as with West coast mountains) has been getting rain instead of snow; that’s why they couldn’t hold the Iditarod dog sled race–no snow in AK (a silver lining?). The jet stream is broken down, running North/South instead of West to East, changing the climate for all of us (human and non-human). Just because the Northeast is having Arctic-like cold doesn’t mean the Earth isn’t heating up. Most of the heat is (90%) is being absorbed by the oceans and a lot of the oceans are tilted toward the sun this time of year, except the Arctic Ocean, which will get more than it’s share this summer. Hopefully we wont lose the entire ice cap this time…
Too easy. The polar melt is causing the jetstream to go totally haywire.
Also:
For the record I DO believe in Climate Change I just don’t understand how we are getting warmer when where I live feels like it is getting colder: shorter summers, brutal winters.
It’s confusing, but when you look at the situation on a global scale it’s actually pretty simple (see my longer reply).
I know it can be hard to understand this, but the internet is full of places you can go and they will explain it to you so that you can understand it. Just because where you live has been cold this winter – I live in CT so I understand what you’re saying – doesn’t mean that the global temp hasn’t gone up. This is a real problem, and I really don’t know if there is anything we can do to stop it. Maybe make it less bad, but not stop it.
Maybe as soon as they come to terms with gravity, the will move on and accept global warming.
The Earth is responding to Human-Caused Climate Change by attempting to get back into equilibrium, just as an injured body does (with symptoms)–sometimes with awful, even fatal results.
Humans have abused, used the oceans, atmosphere, soils, etc., as their sewer, their sink, dumping into these systems millions of tons of poisons, pollutants. The oceans, have absorbed most of it. Today, there are huge “plastic islands” floating in every ocean, at least one, the size of Texas.
Now, the oceans can no longer absorb the CO2, methane, etc., because of this onslaught, & the exploding human population–and the feedback loop. It is like a kid’s toy top, which, at first spins in equilibrium, round & round, goes out of equilibrium, finally erratically toppling over. The feedback loop is in full swing, and no amount of human “engineering fixits” will stop it.
This is how I view this crisis; I am sure there are better explanations, but it works (for me) when trying to explain it. The crisis is now becoming so dire that the evolutionary biodiversity process, which took eons to develop, will be lost: what this poor planet will look like in not too many years, will be horrendous: millions of beautiful non-human species will disappear—many are already dying off daily around the world. This includes flora and fauna, many not yet even known.
All because of a Rogue Species that never really fit in the biological framework of this planet. All destroyed in a flash, by a stupid, arrogant species here for a split second, so to speak.
Here’s a pretty good explanation of the Feedback Loop: http://earthemergency.org/actionearth/index.htm
http://www.foranimals.org
It didn’t mention anything about not breeding or eating animals…
You are right, Jim. These crucial factors seem to be ignored–or denied?