ericgrimsrud

As the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere continuously increase, additional heat is being forced into our planet by the insulating effect of those gases (even though they are minor constituents).  Since most of that heat goes into our oceans, we can get a good approximation of the rate of the Earth’s heat increase simply by observations of the total heat content of our oceans (which is given by the known mass and heat capacity of the oceans times the temperatures measured at all locations.  Since the proper scientific unit used for expressing the magnitude of that heat energy (zettajoules per year) is difficult for the non-scientist to envision, an equivalent term is often used instead.  That term is the “Hiro” and is equal to the heat energy released by one Hiroshima-type atomic bomb.

When I have previously used that term in presentations to the public, the magnitude of heat energy increase was then estimated to be about 4 Hiros per second.  More recently, it has increased to 5 Hiros per second and shows no sign of decreasing.  There is absolutely no doubt that the warming of our planet is occurring and is doing so on a massive scale.

For more detail on the subject of the Earth’s increasing total heat content, see skepticalscience.com/earth-warming-5-atomic-bombs-per-sec.html