The heat is moving, not disappearing.

The idea that oceans are cooling the planet feels reassuring during an era of relentless climate headlines. Water absorbs heat, spreads it out, and hides it from everyday experience. That can look like relief if you only watch surface air temperatures. Scientists have been measuring the oceans carefully for decades, across depths and basins. Those records show a system storing energy, not undoing warming. What happens below the waves shapes storms, sea level, ecosystems, and climate stability far beyond the shoreline.



