Fix the Pacific Ocean?

Poole's problems with physics

Vincent J. Curtis

14 Aug 24

RE: We need to take care of our oceans. Op-ed by Wayne Poole. The Hamilton Spectator 14 Aug 24.

Wayne Poole has a problem with physics. According to Poole, when an ice cube is pulled from the freezer, the ice cube gets colder and warms the air around it.  Sound strange? It is.

From experience, we know that heat flows from the warmer to colder, not the reverse, as the in the ice cube example above.  Hence, Poole errs in basic physics when he says “we have relied on our oceans to absorb 90 per cent of excess heat from global warming…” The average sea surface temperature, at around 21ºC is warmer than the average atmospheric temperature of about 15ºC. On balance, oceans don’t absorb “excess” atmospheric heat, they warm the air above them.

And Poole seems to grasp this when he says that warming oceans have altered weather patterns, “driving more intense rainfall events, storms, and hurricanes.” That’s only possible if the ocean is warming the air above it to a greater degree than in the past; oh, and it demolishes the theory that more CO2 in the atmosphere is the cause of more intense rainfall and more frequent hurricanes.  But never mind.

The rest of Poole’s claims are half-truths when they’re not outright false. It’s all pointless fear-mongering, for what can we do to fix the Pacific Ocean?

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