Article: Deep Oceans Are Cooling Amidst A Sea of Modeling Uncertainty: New Research on Ocean Heat Content

Two of the world’s premiere ocean scientists from Harvard and MIT have addressed the data limitations that currently prevent the oceanographic community from resolving the differences among various estimates of changing ocean heat content. They point out where future data is most needed so these ambiguities do not persist into the next several decades of change. As a by-product of that analysis they 1) determined the deepest oceans are cooling, 2) estimated a much slower rate of ocean warming, 3) highlighted where the greatest uncertainties existed due to the ever changing locations of heating and cooling, and 4) specified concerns with previous methods used to construct changes in ocean heat content... They concluded, “Direct determination of changes in oceanic heat content over the last 20 years are not in conflict with estimates of the radiative forcing, but the uncertainties remain too large to rationalize e.g., the apparent “pause” in warming.”

There has been a pause in warming lasting now 18 years. If the earth is still heating, then where is the heat going to? One hypothesis is that the heat is being transferred to the oceans, specifically to the deep oceans.

And since other parts of the ocean are also cooling, or are warming slightly, it is obvious that the "ocean heat sink" hypothesis does not explain the current hiatus.

The hypothesis has been falsified.

As noted in a post below, the earth's atmosphere is not warming, but stable. Specific areas of the earth, especially the Arctic, are still catching up to the new equilibrium, so some climate change is to be expected.

But then, climate change is always expected. It is normal.