Water occupies a larger percentage of our Earth's surface than land. Earth's oceans are vital to our environment and we need to take care of them. On another note, global warming is a problem that is impacting almost every aspect of our environment. Global warming itself means a gradual increase in the temperature of the Earth's atmosphere over large periods of time. There is evidence that global warming has been occurring in the atmosphere, however we are now starting to see its effects in the world's oceans as well. While some may not see the connection it has to the oceans, it has had a pretty profound effect on our Earth's oceans. As I mentioned before, oceans are environments that must maintain every characteristic to survive. If one aspect of the ocean is altered, it leads to many consequences. Oceans are one of the most difficult areas to measure and acquire data from in our environment. However, we first need to check whether the oceans are actually affected by global warming or not. Scientists have sought to use computer models of our Earth's oceans to make predictions about the effects of global warming. Teams of oceanographers also compiled ocean temperature readings from 1948 to 1996 in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans. The study conducted by this team concluded that ocean temperatures below 300 meters have increased by a tenth of a degree Fahrenheit since the 1950s. Furthermore, closer to the surface, ocean water temperatures increased by about 0.5 degrees (Pawelski, 2000). Lead author of this study and head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Ocean Climate Laboratory, Sydney Levitus, said: “These temperature changes may seem small, but they represent very large changes in the heat content of the ocean, and this heat will eventually find its way back to the atmosphere.” (Pawelski, 2000). Therefore, even though these temperature changes in the ocean seem small, they can have a rather large effect on Earth's atmosphere. Levitus also states that much of the global warming that appears to be absent in our atmosphere is actually in our oceans. We have identified the “missing warming” in our oceans and now we need to try to reduce it (Kerr, 2000). Only from Levitus' study and also from the recent att...... half of the document ......c ASAP. March 11, 2002. Kerr, Richard A. "Missing Globe Warming" Found in Ocean. Science. March 24, 2000: 2126. Elite Academic Research. April 11, 2002.Kullenberg, Gunnar. “Global ocean observation system”. Geotimes.September 1992: 5. Academic expanded as soon as possible. March 11, 2002.Lazaroff, Cat. “Ocean Warming Attributed to Greenhouse Gases.” Environmental News Service. March 11, 2002. .Pawelski, Natalie. “New study finds warming trend in oceans.” March 23, 2000. Cable News Network. March 11, 2002. Pearce, Fred. “Will a sea change increase the situation?” NewScientist.30 November 1996: 16. Academic expanded soon. March 11, 2002.Preston, Todd. "The restless oceans." The Environmental Magazine.Mar/Apr 1997: 21. Elite academic research. April 11, 2002. Rosendahl, B. R. “Pumping the Ocean.” Frontiers of the sea. September/October 1990: 3. Elite Academic Research. April 11, 2002. Spalding, Mark. “Danger on the High Seas”. Geographical. February 2002: 15. Academic expanded as soon as possible. March 11, 2002.Vogel, Shawna. “Has global warming started?” Earth. December 1995: 24. Elite Academic Research. April 11th 2002.