<div>In general Fox News has presented a view of anthropogenic climate change slanted more towards the skeptics who doubt the existence of or magnitude of the problem, but the following article from August 20, 2009 does not demonstrate such a bias:</div>
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<p><a href="http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,541222,00.html">http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,541222,00.html</a></p>
<h1>World in Hot Water as Ocean Temperatures Reach Record High</h1>
<p><strong>Thursday , August 20, 2009</strong></p>
<p><img alt="AP" src="http://www.foxnews.com/images/service_ap_36.gif"></p>
<p>WASHINGTON — </p><font size="2">July was the hottest month for the world's oceans in almost 130 years of record-keeping.</font>
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<p><font size="2">The average water temperature worldwide was 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit according to the National Climatic Data Center, the branch of the U.S. government that keeps world weather records. June was only slightly cooler, while August could set another record, scientists say. The previous record was set in July 1998 during a powerful El Nino in the Pacific. The coolest recorded ocean temperature was 59.3 degrees in December 1909.</font></p>
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<p><font size="2">Meteorologists said there is a combination of forces at work: A natural El Nino weather pattern just getting started on top of worsening manmade global warming, and a dash of random weather variations. Already the resulting ocean heat is harming threatened coral reefs. It also could hasten the melting of Arctic sea ice and help hurricanes strengthen.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">The Gulf of Mexico, where warm water fuels hurricanes, has temperatures dancing around 90 degrees. Most of the water in the Northern Hemisphere has been considerably warmer than normal. The Mediterranean is about three degrees warmer than normal. Higher temperatures rule in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">The phenomenon is most noticeable near the Arctic, where water temperatures are as much as 10 degrees above average. The tongues of warm water could help melt sea ice from below and even cause thawing of ice sheets on Greenland, said Waleed Abdalati, director of the Earth Science and Observation Center at the University of Colorado.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Breaking heat records in water is more ominous as a sign of global warming than breaking temperature marks on land, because water takes longer to heat up and does not cool as easily as land.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">"This warm water we're seeing doesn't just disappear next year; it'll be around for a long time," said climate scientist Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria in British Columbia. It takes five times more energy to warm water than land.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">The warmer water "affects weather on the land," Weaver said. "This is another yet really important indicator of the change that's occurring."</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Georgia Institute of Technology atmospheric science professor Judith Curry said water is warming in more places than usual, which has not been seen in more than 50 years.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Add to that an unusual weather pattern this summer where the warmest temperatures seem to be just over oceans, while slightly cooler air is concentrated over land, said Deke Arndt, head of climate monitoring at the climate data center.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">The pattern is so unusual that he suggested meteorologists may want to study that pattern to see what is behind it.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">The effects of that warm water already are being seen in coral reefs, said C. Mark Eakin, coordinator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's coral reef watch. Long-term excessive heat bleaches colorful coral reefs white and sometimes kills them.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Bleaching has started to crop up in the Florida Keys, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Typically, bleaching occurs after weeks or months of prolonged high water temperatures. That usually means September or even October in the Caribbean Sea, said Eakin. He found bleaching in Guam on Wednesday. It is too early to know whether the coral will recover or die. Experts are "bracing for another bad year," he said.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">The problems caused by the El Nino pattern are likely to get worse, the scientists say.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">An El Nino occurs when part of the central Pacific warms up, which in turn changes weather patterns worldwide for many months. El Nino and its cooling flip side, La Nina, happen every few years.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">During an El Nino, temperatures on water and land tend to rise in many places, leading to an increase in the overall global average temperature. An El Nino has other effects, too, including dampening Atlantic hurricane formation and increasing rainfall and mudslides in Southern California.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Warm water is a required fuel for hurricanes. What's happening in the oceans "will add extra juice to the hurricanes," Curry said.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Hurricane activity has been quiet for much of the summer, but that may change soon, she said. Hurricane Bill quickly became a major storm and the National Hurricane Center warned that warm waters are along the path of the hurricane for the next few days.</font></p>
<p><font size="2">Hurricanes need specific air conditions, so warmer water alone does not necessarily mean more or bigger storms, said James Franklin, chief hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.</font></p>
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<p><font size="2">Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</font></p></div>