Climate and the Ocean

Of the components of the terrestrial climate system, the oceans are clearly one of the most important. Because the specific heat per unit mass of water is about 4 times that of air, the thermal capacity of the oceans is over 1,000 times that of the atmosphere. In this paper I will stress the role of the oceans in regulating temperature and transporting energy in the climate system. In particular, since the temperature of the ocean surface is the variable most closely connected to the atmosphere, I will focus on the seasonal and nonseasonal variations in the top 100 m layer of water.