Although the details are not well understood, it seems likely that, in response to tectonic pressures originating in the Atlantic (where the surface of the Earth is being pulled apart), those softer rocks on either side are disturbed.

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But by the Berkeley team's analysis, the global temperature correlates more closely with the state of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index - a measure of sea surface temperature in the north Atlantic.

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Bathtub conditions at the surface of the Atlantic Ocean gave him his answer.

CNN: graphic

Chevron was slammed in the press for the accident, though the oil sheen was cleaned off the surface of the Atlantic in less than two weeks and no oil washed up on the famed Rio de Janeiro beaches.

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"The issue, really, this year is the anomalously warm sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic, " Lepore said.

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The surface temperatures of the Atlantic are warmer earlier this year than they were at the same time in 2004, Lepore said.

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Some recent studies have revealed a significant concentration of particles in near-surface waters in areas of mid-ocean accumulation (N Pacific and NW Atlantic gyres).

UNESCO: All Events | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

But surface temperatures in all six of the ocean basins he examined (the north and south Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans) have increased by about half a degree Celsius.

ECONOMIST: Climate change: Oceans apart | The

There's barely time to understand what's happening before a flash of silver whale's skin breaks the surface, dips beneath a wave and plunges down to the dark fathoms of the North Atlantic.

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