Vocabulary Check 3

The upper layers of Earth's oceans have cooled (1. SIGNIFY) ________________ over the past two years, even though the planet as a whole is warming up.

While this may just be part of the natural (2.VARY) ________________ of oceans, climatologists are still confounded by the massive unaccountable loss of heat.

Scientists have been (3. INCREASE) _________________ concerned by rising sea temperatures over the last 50 years but these new (4.FIND)_______________ tell a different story.

Generally speaking, the (5.ABSORB) ____________________ of heat by the oceans reduces atmospheric warming.

Now (6. MEASURE)________________ taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have put a wrinkle in the trend.

The researchers used data from 3000 floating buoys which monitor the oceans (7. WORLD) __________________.

They found that the oceans dropped in temperature by an (8.BELIEVE) _________________ 0.02 degrees centigrade between 2011 and 2013.

Now, that may not seem like much, but trying to account for the missing energy is proving to be enormously (9. PROBLEM) ________________.

It is possible that (10. VOCANO) __________________ eruptions are one main cause of the phenomenon, but no firm answers have yet been provided.

The resultant disruptions in trade and agriculture, and the _______ of the countryside, left long-term scars. (POPULATE)