Colour shading shows observed temperature trends (°C per decade) during 1992–2011 at the sea surface

Joseph Conrad, who claimed not to be a sentimentalist when came to the life at sea, waxed poetic when writing of the trade winds:  In the middle belt of the earth the Trade Winds reign supreme, undisputed, like monarchs of long -settled kingdoms…, whose traditional power, checking all undue ambitions, is not so much an exercise of personal might as the working of long-established institutions. … The regions ruled by the northeast and southeast Trade Winds are serene…. Those citizens of the ocean feel sheltered under the aegis of an uncontested law, of an undisputed dynasty. There, indeed, if anywhere on earth, the weather may be trusted. (Mirror of the Sea) 

A recent study suggests that the power of the “monarchs of the Trade Winds“, as Conrad refers to them, may be even more powerful and less serene than we thought.  After seeing dramatic increases in global temperatures in the last decade, the rate of temperature increase has flattened out in the last decade. Until recently, no one was able to explain the slow down in warming.  Researchers writing in the journal Nature Climate Change think that they have the answer. They suggest that significantly stronger than normal trade winds in the eastern Pacific may be have forced warmer ocean waters deeper beneath the surface and contributed to the up-welling of colder deep ocean waters.  In essence, the oceans have continued to warm at the same rate but the unusually strong trade winds have mitigated the effects of the warmer water.  The study also warms that as soon as the trade winds resume to more typical wind strengths, the return to rapid warming can be expected.

Richard Allan, professor of climate science at the University of Reading, said “This new research suggests that when the trade winds weaken again, the planet can expect rapid warming of the surface to resume, as greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise. We don’t know what is causing these unprecedented changes, but the implications could be substantial.”