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Thermal Expansion of Water. An Important Contributor to Sea Level Rise. Version: MM DD, YYYY. Thermal Expansion. Thermal expansion refers to the tendency of matter to change shape, area and volume in response to a change in temperature .
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Thermal Expansion of Water An Important Contributor to Sea Level Rise Version: MM DD, YYYY
Thermal Expansion • Thermal expansion refers to the tendency of matter to change shape, area and volume in response to a change in temperature. • When a substance is heated, the molecules begin to vibrate and move more, and maintain a larger separation. This results in the molecules taking up greater volume.
Thermal Expansion of Water As the ocean warms, the density decreases. Thus even at constant mass the volume of the ocean increases when warmed. Thermal expansion occurs at all ocean temperatures and is a major contributor to sea level changes.
The majority of additional energy in the Earth’s climate system is stored in the oceans • Ocean warming dominates the total energy change inventory. Plot of energy accumulation in ZJ (1 ZJ = 1021 J) within distinct components of the Earth’s climate system relative to 1971 and from 1971 to 2010 unless otherwise indicated (IPCC 2014).