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Why can I not find numbers on how much we have heated the oceans by using them as heat dumps for engines, nuclear plants, and nuclear vessels? Do you know where to get these answers?
Question Date: 2017-07-21
Answer 1:

Those questions are all very difficult. We are still learning about how temperature affects the ocean. It's easy to measure the surface temperature of the ocean, but the weather and climate keep changing and the ocean is big, so it's hard to know how even the surface temperature of the ocean changes.

We are finding that some of the heat goes deep into the ocean, which makes the situation even much more complex.

Think of all the currents in the ocean, both the currents near the surface and the deep currents, too.

Also, who is going to be measuring the waste at all places? You have a good question, but I think there is no simple answer, except that the amount of heat is probably only a tiny amount of the total heat. I think you don't need to worry too much about it.



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