UPDATE: I changed the color scheme of the first two illustrations at the request of a reader.
The National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC) recently posted a new Ocean Heat Content (OHC) anomaly dataset on its website. It is available on annual and quarterly bases, along with the data for its standard and documented dataset that covers depths of 0-700 meters. I looked for but was not able to find any papers (in any state of publication) that supported the new OHC data for 0-2000 meters. We’ll just have to wait and see how the NODC intends to present this dataset.
The data for the depths of 0-700 meters is, of course, documented in the paper Levitus et al (2009) “Global ocean heat content (1955-2008) in light of recent instrumentation problems”. Refer to Manuscript. It was revised in 2010 as noted in the October 18, 2010 post Update And Changes To NODC Ocean Heat Content Data. As described in the NODC’s explanation of ocean heat content (OHC) data changes, the changes result from “data additions and data quality control,” from a switch in base climatology, and from revised Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) bias calculations.
COMPARISON OF GLOBAL OHC ANOMALIES: 0-700 METERS VERSUS 0-2000 METERS
Figure 1 compares the quarterly NODC OHC anomaly data for the depths of 0-700 meters and 0-2000 meters on a global basis. As noted on the illustration, the most obvious divergence between the two datasets occurs during the ARGO era. This is the period when ARGO floats became the dominant means of sampling of ocean temperatures and salinity at depth.
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Figure 1
If we limit the comparison to the period from 1970 to 1999, Figure 2, we can see that there is basically no difference in the linear trends. There are minor differences from year to year, but the two datasets appear to be basically the same. Why?
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Figure 2
There are extremely few observations prior to the year 2000 at depths greater than 1000 meters. This is illustrated in Figure 3. (Note that NOAA Climate Prediction Center Data Distributionwebpage breaks down the temperature profiles into depths of 0-250 meters, 250-500 meters, 500-1000 meters and 1000-5000 meters. Those depths don’t agree with the depths presented by the NODC for its Ocean Heat Content anomaly data.)
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Figure 3
And Animation 1 shows a series of annual maps of the locations of temperature profiles from 1979 to 2005 for the depths 1000-5000 meters. As illustrated, there is also very little spatial coverage at these depths until the introduction of the ARGO floats.
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Animation 1
As a reference, Figure 4 shows the number of temperature profiles for depths of 250 to 500 meters. There were between 2000 to 5000 temperature profiles per month between the late 1970s and the late 1990s at these depths before the ARGO floats were deployed. Note that the TAO/TRITON project (red curve) shows temperature profiles that were initially for the equatorial Pacific (coordinates approximately 8S-9N, 137E-95W). Those buoys were deployed for the study of El Niño and La Niña events. The locations were later expanded to include portions of the Tropical Atlantic and Indian Oceans under the PIRATA and RAMA projects. Refer to the TAO Project Global Arraywebpage. So while there are a good number of temperature profiles for the TAO project, they are limited in their location.
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Figure 4
Figure 5 illustrates the difference between the two NODC Global Ocean Heat Content (OHC) datasets, where the 0-700 meter data has been subtracted from the 0-2000 meter data. Also referring back to Figure 3, the difference between the two datasets seems to increase in concert with the number of temperature samples at depths greater than 1000 meters. It appears as though the divergence of the 0-2000 meter dataset from the 0-700 meter data since around 2000 could be caused by the increased number of samples at depth and the increased spatial coverage of the ARGO floats, as shown in the animations. The impacts on short-term and long-term trends of the increased number of samples at depths greater than 700 meters and the impact of the increased area of observations should be determined. (A study such as that is well beyond my capabilities.) Maybe it will be documented in the NODC paper that accompanies the 0-2000 meter dataset.
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Figure 5
Keep in mind, before the ARGO era, there were very few ocean temperature observations at any depth in the Southern Hemisphere south of about 40S. For example, Animation 2 is a gif animation of maps that illustrate the locations of temperature profiles for depths of 0-250 meters, 250-500 meters, 500-1000 meters, and 1000-5000 meters for the year 1995.
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Animation 2
And Animation 3 shows the same series of temperature profile maps but for the year 2005.
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Animation 3
A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS FOR READERS
Were the Expendable Bathythermograph (XBT) probes with wire lengths of 760 meters the most commonly used XBT probes before the ARGO era? Is this the reason the NODC originally limited the depth to 700 meters for the Ocean Heat Content anomaly data? Does anyone recall a paper that presents this? I had always assumed the depth of 700 meters was selected due to the number of and locations of observations, but I have never seen it stated in a paper.
LONG-TERM TRENDS PER OCEAN BASIN
When I originally prepared the graphs for this post, I could find no reason to present the long-term trends for the individual ocean basins of the 0-2000 meter data. The reason being, in some respects, the NODC OHC data for 0-2000 meters appears to me to simply be a 0-2000 meter OHC dataset spliced onto a 0-700 meter dataset. But on further thought, my failure to present the data might be thought by some as an attempt on my part to hide something. So Figure 6 (0-2000 meters) and Figure 7 (0-700 meters) are long-term trend comparisons of the Ocean Heat Content anomalies for the individual ocean basins as presented by the NODC. The most obvious similarity is that the long-term trends of the North Atlantic Ocean Heat Content are significantly higher than other ocean basins in both datasets, and in both, the North Atlantic Ocean Heat Content peaked in 2004. After that, there are significant declines. One would think this would lead researchers to examine the effects of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation and Meridional Overturning Circulation on North Atlantic Ocean Heat Content observational data, yet, as far as I know, this is an area unexplored by climate scientists.
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Figure 6
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Figure 7
ARGO-ERA TRENDS PER OCEAN BASIN
The ARGO-era (2003 to present) linear trends per ocean basin for the depths of 0-2000 meters and 0-700 meters are shown in Figure 8 and 9, respectively. Like the trends for the 0-700 meter data, the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean are the only basins with significantly positive linear trends for the 0-2000 meter Ocean Heat Content data. And also like the trends 0-700 meter data, the linear trends of the 0-2000 meter Ocean Heat Content anomalies in the North Atlantic and South Pacific are negative. The linear trends for those two ocean basins are less negative for 0-2000 meter depths than they are for 0-700 meter depths, indicating that the declines at depths of 0-700 meters are greater than the increases at the 700-2000 meter depths. Considering there is less than a decade of ARGO-era data with “full” coverage, there is no need to speculate about the cause. Note also that the trend for the North Pacific OHC anomalies is basically flat for the 0-2000 meter data, and that the same holds true for the 0-700 meter data.
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Figure 8
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Figure 9
CLOSING COMMENTS
The undocumented (as of this writing) NODC 0-2000 meter Ocean Heat Content dataset appears as though it was prepared to show that Global Ocean Heat Content continues to rise during the ARGO era, and that it is intended to counter the argument that Global Ocean Heat Content has flattened during the ARGO era as shown in the NODC 0-700 meter dataset.
Due to the extremely limited number of observations at depths of 1000-5000 meters (shown in Figure 3 and in the animations), the 0-2000 meter Ocean Heat Content dataset should be used with great caution. It appears to me to be an ARGO-era 0-2000 meter Ocean Heat Content dataset spliced onto a long-term 0-700 meter dataset. For this reason, I, personally, would not expend the effort to analyze the long-term (pre-ARGO era) 0-2000 meter NODC OHC data beyond what has been presented in this post.
Each time I see the claim (based on many assumptions) by anthropogenic global warming proponent scientists that the rise in ocean heat content at depth “will come back to haunt us” I wonder why those same scientists have not bothered to attempt to document how much of the rise in OHC from the 1970s to the early 2000s (0-700 meters) was caused by the deep oceans upwelling warmer anomalies from past decades, other than the fact that there’s no data for them to do so. Could they believe that multidecadal variability is limited to Sea Surface Temperatures and does not impact temperatures at depth? Or is their intent to have the unsuspecting public believe it?