Quantum mechanism identified as a key to accelerating ocean temperatures

Accelerating rates of heat uptake by oceans that don’t fit current climate models can now be explained by quantum physics, according to an Australian scientist.

In a recent paper published in the Journal of Physics Communications, Emeritus Professor in Applied Physics at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Geoff Smith puts forward a new “quantum thermal physics paradigm” to better understand the impact of global warming on oceans and thus on climate and weather.

Professor Smith said accumulated data over 70 years showed an accelerating rise in ocean temperatures and the total energy stored in oceans, with the world earlier this year passing what was described as a “foreboding milestone”—a record global average sea surface temperature of 21.1°C.

“Current scientific models in the presence of ongoing rises in atmospheric greenhouse gases do not predict this threatening acceleration,” Professor Smith said.

“The solution to this conundrum is that the energy being stored in oceans is a combination of heat with energy which is nature’s source of information on material properties.

“When ocean water is heated by radiation from the sun and the sky it stores energy not only as heat, but as hybrid pairs of photons coupled to oscillating water molecules.

“These pairs are a natural form of quantum information, different to the information researchers are pursuing in the development of quantum computing. This extra store of energy has always been present and aided ocean thermal stability prior to 1960.

“But now the average heat dissipated overnight from each day’s heating is no longer stable as extra heat input from Earth’s atmosphere raises both forms of stored energy.”

Professor Smith said the apparent role of non-thermal energy in accelerating ocean temperatures now needs to be factored into climate models.

“Our current models for the thermal responses of built and natural outdoor systems may also need refining for improved comfort, less use of supplied energy, and better human, plant and animal health in a warming climate,” Professor Smith said.

“In the end, though, the only way to slow, then stop an alarming temperature acceleration is to stop the rise in atmospheric greenhouse gases.”