National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
United States Department of Commerce

Argo Floats Provide Accurate Ocean Heating Baseline Data

January 23, 2012

Using Argo float data, scientists including PMEL’s Dr. Greg Johnson and JIMAR’s Dr. John Lyman, published a paper in Nature Geoscience that concludes the Earth has been accumulating heat continuously, mostly in the ocean, between 2001 and 2010. The paper describes how the heat balance measured at the top of the atmosphere is consistent with observed ocean warming, implying that there is probably no ‘missing energy’ in the system as had been suspected.

Visit PMEL’s Argo Float program website for more information.