Oceans of Change

摘要

'THE SEA NEVER CHANGES, AND ITS WORKS, FOR ALL THE TALK OF MEN, ARE WRAPPED IN MYSTERY.' So observed the narrator of 'Typhoon,' Joseph Conrad's 1902 novella. But today, we know that his mariner protagonist was wrong on both eounts. The ocean, in fact, is changing profoundly. And while its complex mechanisms are no longer shrouded in mystery, countless riddles remain unsolved. Covering 71 percent of our blue planet, the ocean is a focal point for climate research. Because it stores 95 percent of the excess heat created by greenhouse gases that humans put into the atmosphere, the ocean acts both as a buffer against rapid warming stoked by today's greenhouse gas emissions, and as a memory bank of today's rising temperatures.