The World According To Measurements - 2

Fig. 1

I don't think readers grasped the significance of the first post in this series (The World According To Measurements).

So, I am going to review the significance of it.

First, let me mention that Databases Galore - 19 is being read more than other recent posts, which I suspect is because it is so "YUGE" in that it detailed all of the PSMSL stations in all of the WOD layers that have PSMSL stations (ibid).

But that is not all of the WOD measurements available, by far, nor all of the PSMSL measurements available.

Fig. 2

More WOD zones were featured in the previous post in that series, because the limit was not based on having PSMSL stations in a featured zone.

No, any zone that had any measurements recorded in the WOD database, and any PSMSL stations with measurements were the only requirements.

In other words, all available error free measurements were used.

That begins with ~0.97 billion (not million) measurements (Databases Galore - 18).

Fig. 3 Steric Volume Change Above Max .Density

In the first post of this series I used WOD measurements taken at all depths in all locations around the globe.

Those data were processed in order to do the graphs in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.

What they show is that, all things considered, thermal expansion (steric volume change) is clearly not 'the' or even 'a' major cause of sea level rise.

This is shown by applying the steric volume formula V₁ = V₀(1 + β ΔT) to every measurement of temperature, salinity, and ocean volume in order to generate the graph at pane four (lower right) in Fig. 1, and the graph at pane two (bottom) of Fig. 2.

The take-home from this and the previous post is that if you want the results for all of the ocean (not just the surface 1000 meters) you must use all measurements from all depths (including the very cold water below 3000m).

Fig. 4 Steric Volume Change Below Max .Density

Perhaps the first post did not catch many "eyes" because there was not much sea level change shown.

That is because those graphs were detailing global mean averages.

Every error free sea level, temperature, salinity, volume, and depth measurement in the CTD & PFL datasets of the WOD and PSMSL were used to reveal a major reality.

Some of those measurements were of three feet of sea level rise, some on the other hand were of three feet of sea level fall, but the end result being sought was the global mean average (for comparison).

That is because what was being sought was a look at global average steric, thermal volume changes, compared to global average sea level changes.

As Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show, that behavior is not axiomatically a one way street.

That is a very important issue, but all too often it is an issue that is not fully discussed (the measurements of water below 3000m are not often used).

The next post in this series is here, the previous post in this series is here.