Cool down

Richard Dixon claims that the world’s temperature will rise by between 1.5 and 4 degrees centigrade due to anthropo - genic CO2 in the atmosphere (Perspective ,25 August ). There are many controversies with this argument, among them being the role of the oceans. The layman knows liquids are much better regulators of temperature than air, indeed, car engines are normally cooled by liquids.

On a timescale of seasons, the top 70 metres of ocean is well-mixed and this layer has a heat capacity that is 30 times greater than that of the atmosphere. The oceans to all depths regulate the earth’s temperature on a longer timescale, and this global ocean heat capacity is a massive 1000 times that of the atmosphere.

The late Prof. William Gray, an expert in tropical storms and atmospheric science, wrote on the subject of alarmist climate modelers “They lack an understanding and treatment of the fundamental role of the deep ocean circulation.”

GEOFF MOORE Alness, Highland