New study: Oceans are warming much faster than previously thought

A new study in the journal Nature says that earth's oceans are warming much faster than previously measured.

The study finds that earth's oceans have absorbed 60 percent more heat every year than previously documented. The implications are that the rate of future global atmospheric warming may be even faster than previously thought.

Here's a clip from the study.

Our result-which relies on precision O2 measurement dating back to 1991-suggest that ocean warming is at the high end of previous estimates, with impacts for policy-relevant measurements of the earth response to climate change, such as climate sensitivity to greenhouse gasses and the thermal component of sea level rise.

Chris Mooney with the Washington Post is among the first to report on the new study. He is my guest on MPR's Climate Cast Thursday afternoon at 4:20 pm.