On Thermal Expansion & Thermal Contraction - 44

Higgs Boson Blues

I. Background

In the previous post of this series a simulation displayed various outcomes in terms of thermal expansion.

The simulation was based on maximum and minimum temperatures for the world oceans that are listed in the World Ocean Database (WOD)  Manual.

In today's post actual in situ measurements from the same oceans are used instead of the simulations.

The measurements are not processed exactly like the averages "(max + min ÷ 2)" of the WOD Manual temperatures were in the previous post of this series, they are processed just as they were measured (On Thermal Expansion & Thermal Contraction - 43).

The difference in the graphs of all oceans is due to the fact that ~93% of the heat from the Sun that is not radiated back into space ends up in the ocean.

Thus, the GISTEMP anomaly data which applies to the atmosphere is only ~7% of the total global heating action.

The ocean is warming more than the atmosphere, so it is normal to expect an impact of the sort shown on the "Thermosteric SLC" graphs in the two posts.

II. In Situ Results

The in situ temperature HTML data and the graphs show that the ocean heat content is above the median depicted by the  "(max + min ÷ 2)" figures in the "On Thermal Expansion & Thermal Contraction - 43" presentations.

This reality, however, does not redeem the "thermal expansion is the main cause of sea level rise" hypothesis.

No, once again, simulation or not, the HTML appendices and the graph appendices to today's post once again confirm my argument that "thermal expansion is NOT the main cause of sea level rise" over the past century.


Check out the in situ data appendices:

Links To Appendices

Ocean Area	Html Tables	Graphed Values
Atlantic	Appendix A1	Appendix A2
Pacific	Appendix B1	Appendix B2
Polar	Appendix C1	Appendix C2
Equatorial	Appendix D1	Appendix D2
Indian	Appendix E1	Appendix E2

The cumulative totals for each ocean area's in situ measurements are as follows:

Thermosteric SLC (c.1900-2019)

Ocean	SLC (mm)
North Atlantic	4.52489
Equatorial Atlantic	0.840493
South Atlantic	1.2491
North Pacific	3.06685
Equatorial Pacific	6.4686
South Pacific	5.02795
North Indian	0.563049
Equatorial Indian	8.16361
South Indian	6.30896
Southern	1.98366
Arctic	0.487493
Average (11 oceans)	3.51679
Total (11 oceans)	38.6847

Graph of (in situ) Thermal Expansion

Compare this thermosteric SLC graph with graphs of total SLC around the globe:

Countries With Sea Level Change, 2, 3
Seaports With Sea Level Change, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

III. The Reality

The melting of the Cryosphere (both above and below sea level) is the main cause of sea level change.

Sea level rise is caused mostly by tidewater glacier melt under the ocean's surface at or near the grounding lines.

This is taking place in Greenland and in Antarctica big time, even as we 'speak'.

For review and confirmation:

Hot, Warm, & Cold Thermal Facts: Tidewater-Glaciers, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

In Pursuit of Plume Theory, 2, 3, 4

Antarctica 2.0, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 [& supplements A, B, C, D, E, F], 7

Mysterious Zones of Antarctica, 2, 3, 4

Mysterious Zones of The Arctic, 2, 3

Greenland 2.0, 2

(there are more series posts in the series posts tabs at the top of the page)

IV. Closing Comments

Dredd Blog uses the TEOS-10 toolkit's gsw_alpha function to calculate the thermal expansion coefficient:

"This site [teos-10.org] is the official source of information about the Thermodynamic Equation Of Seawater - 2010 (TEOS-10), and the way in which it should be used.

TEOS-10 is based on a Gibbs function formulation from which all thermodynamic properties of seawater (density, enthalpy, entropy sound speed, etc.) can be derived in a thermodynamically consistent manner. TEOS-10 was adopted by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission at its 25th Assembly in June 2009 to replace EOS-80 as the official description of seawater and ice properties in marine science."

Of the gsw_alpha function, that official source says:

"Hence we may take the thermal expansion coefficient [a⁰] evaluated [from] gsw_alpha(SA,CT,p) as essentially reflecting the full accuracy of TEOS‐10."

(Notes on gsw_alpha, PDF). It's enough to give a person the Higgs Boson Blues ...

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Is the Higgs Boson Blues made of two or more other blues?

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