Ocean robots illuminate deep ocean warming

Scientists deploy a Deep Argo float in 2018 from Research Vessel Kaʻimikai-O-Kanaloa at the Pacific Ocean off Hawaii. Credit: NOAA

New research published today shows that using data collected by deep ocean robots, called Deep Argo floats, combined with historic data from research vessels has increased confidence that parts of the global deep ocean are warming at a rate of .0036 to .0072 degrees Fahrenheit (.002 to .004 degrees Celsius) each year.

“Ocean warming is the dominant element of global warming and a major driver of climate change,” said Greg Johnson, an oceanographer at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab and lead author of the study, which was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. “This study confirms the previously reported deep ocean warming, and reduces the uncertainties about the global ocean heat uptake in waters below 1.2 miles (2000 meters), a key area of the ocean for predicting sea level rise and extreme weather.”