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Ocean Water Temperatures
There are some measurements,
Figure 6, taken from the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans that suggest a
warming of the ocean layer from 500 m to 3000 m depth. Areal coverage by
snow, Figure 6, in the Northern Hemisphere
shows a gradual decline over the last 20 years during which satellite measurements have been made.
Sea ice area, Figure 7,
over the same period shows a slight decline in the Southern Hemisphere and essentially
no change in the Northern Hemisphere. Perhaps a more meaningful measure of change in sea ice
volume, however, is sea-ice thickness rather than horizontal areal
coverage. There have been
reports of substantial thinning of ice in recent years,
although the record is quite short (Figure 8).
