Ocean temperature data
are presented
in small fractions of degrees.
But the data collection process
has most likely created
much larger errors than that,
just from repeated changes
in the measurement methodology.
For example, a 1940’s
cooling trend started
with a drastic reversal
from the previous
warming trend.
Oceans are supposed to
change temperature
much more slowly than land.
So what happened?
Most likely from the
rapid change
from cooling to warming
was from a measurement
methodology change,
from dipping buckets overboard,
to reading engine cooling water
inlet temperatures.
Engine room water
intake measurements
are generally warmer
than uninsulated bucket
measurements.
Summary of Primary
Ocean Measurement
Methodologies:
First there were
wooden buckets
thrown from a moving ship,
and then hauled up,
so a bulb thermometer
could be dipped in the bucket
to get the water temperature.
Then there were
canvas buckets.
Then there were
insulated canvas buckets.
Then there were
engine cooling water
temperature readings.
-- A ship’s diesel
engine cooling water
has its temperature
measured via gage
(the gage is typically
1 degree C accuracy,
and never re-calibrated).
Then there were
XBTs
(Expendable Bathythermograph)
Sondes:
-- Launched from
moving ships
and submarines.
-- Data sent to the ship
via unspooling of
a thin copper wire
from the probe.
Then there were
ARGO Floating Buoys.
-- 4,000 submersed buoys
record water data,
while drifting
at different ocean depths.
-- Buoys surface periodically
to transmit stored time,
depth, salinity)
and temperature data
via satellite
to ground stations
for interpretation.
-- Inquiries about
various errors.
with the predominant
ARGO probe manufacturer,
remain unanswered.
With all these different
measurement methodologies,
in the past century
we need to know
if a methodology change
inadvertently caused
warming or cooling.
But, there has never been
a scientific experiment,
with all different methodologies,
used at the same time,
to measure ocean temperature
in the same location,
to see how the results differ !