National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Monday, November 23, 2009

Photo: Ocean "Thermostat" May Be Secret Weapon Against Warming


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The Western Pacific Warm Pool, which lies northeast of Australia, has warmed only about half as much as cooler ocean regions and experienced fewer coral bleaching events due to climate change, new research shows.

The study backs up a controversial theory that a natural "thermostat" is regulating ocean temperatures and may mitigate the effects of global warming.

Map courtesy Steve Deyo, UCAR