Why it does not feel warmer.

Editor,

Air's ability to absorb heat -- its "heat capacity" -- is miniscule next to the "heat capacity" of water. You can demonstrate this fact by placing your finger above an open flame -- OUCH! -- then putting a pot of water over the same flame to boil. For several minutes, while the water in your pot is absorbing heat energy from the flame below it, you can put your finger in the water comfortably.

This difference in the heat capacities of air and water explains why ambient temperature is not becoming noticeably warmer as "global warming" is taking place. Since the heat capacity of air is small and the heat capacity of water is large, heat energy trapped by greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere is being absorbed by the oceans, and it is the oceans' temperature that is gradually increasing.

Small changes in the temperature of the oceans have large effects, including slowing of the great currents of the world and increased evaporation of water from the surface of the oceans, both of which have major effects on weather. The great currents keep New England and Western Europe temperate during the winter, for example; increased evaporation means more water vapor in the atmosphere -- and heavier rains. And of course warming the oceans, because water expands as its temperature increases, will cause flooding along the oceans' coasts, where many of the major cities of the world are situated.

We all would have been cooked long ago if this difference in the ability to absorb heat did not exist. Instead we are at risk of being drowned.