Globally, surface air and ocean temperatures have warmed by about 1°C since 1900. More than 90% of the additional heat contained in the climate system (atmosphere, ocean, land) due to global warming is stored in the ocean, so what do these increased ocean temperatures mean for our weather?
The ocean stores significantly more heat than the atmosphere: the top few metres of the ocean contain more thermal energy than the entire atmosphere. There is a continuous exchange of heat between the ocean and atmosphere and the weather we experience is intrinsically linked to the heat contained in the ocean.
As atmospheric winds flow over the ocean, they typically pick up moisture and either gain or