Originally Posted By: Canuck
I'll eat my hat if the ocean's response to a shift in atmospheric temperature only lags by 50 years. The numbers I have read suggest the lag is on the order of thousands of years http://www.geo.utexas.edu/courses/302C/role_of_oceans.htm

Are we talking about the temperature above the thermocline or below it?

From your linked site I notice:

"The thermal properties of the deep ocean constitute a time lag in the climate system on the scale of 1000 years."

But:

"The thermal capacity of the mixed layer [top 70-100 metres] implies response times to surface changes on the order of years."

How would you like your hat? Medium, rare, or well done? laugh

"Time is what prevents everything from happening at once" - John Wheeler