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Climate changes will not reverse overnight, even if countries adopt immediate measures to eliminate the suspected culprits in global warming. Oceans are the key to understanding this phenomenon. Hi I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook.

Think about heating water on a stove -- it takes awhile for the temperature of the water to catch up to the temperature of the burner. A similar thing happens with the ocean.

According to a recent study by scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, it takes nearly 20 years for the oceans to respond to climate change and global warming.

Looking at computer models, the researchers say that even if emissions of man made greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide were stopped tomorrow, temperatures at the Earthıs surface would continue to rise an additional two degrees Fahrenheit. By comparison, the worldıs surface temperature has risen by only one degree over the last century.

This warming will mean changing weather patterns, rising sea levels, more intense storms, and other nasty business.

With the collapse of the Kyoto treaty to limit emissions to current day levels, it's not likely that we're going to stop pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere anytime soon. But if our emissions increase just one percent a year, the NOAA study predicts that by the year 2060 the planet will be 5 degrees warmer, and weıll be inevitably committed to another three to four degrees on top of that.

Thanks today to writer David Appell of Laconia, New Hampshire. The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and is underwritten by the National Science Foundation. For more on global warming, go to our website at www.weathernotebook.org.