This paper reports improved estimates of near-global ocean heat content and thermal expansion for the upper ocean from 1950–2003, applying corrections to reduce systematic biases in the most common ocean temperature observations. The ocean warming and thermal expansion trends for 1961–2003 are about 50 per cent larger than earlier estimates but about 40 per cent smaller for 1993–2003, consistent with the recognition that previously estimated rates for the 1990s were biased by instrumental errors.
- Catia M. Domingues
- John A. Church
- Jeff R. Dunn
