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Lumifer comments on Stupid Questions March 2015 - Less Wrong Discussion

5 Post author: Gondolinian 03 March 2015 11:37PM

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Comment author: Daniel_Burfoot 04 March 2015 06:05:07PM 1 point [-]

Let's not debate the larger AGW question, just the specific one about ocean temperature. Based on the estimated rate of ocean heat accumulation taken from the graph, as well as my calculation about the heat capacity of the ocean, it appears that we will get 1 degree of ocean warming in 500 years. True or false? If false, what's wrong with the calculation?

Comment author: Lumifer 04 March 2015 07:46:59PM 3 points [-]

Heat content of the oceans is complicated because you can't treat the oceans as a single reservoir -- they have layers and these layers do not mix well. In particular, any warming of the oceans is confined to the upper layers.

You can find lots of discussion e.g. here, or, more specifically, here.