"For the first time, with the exception of the Pacific, we can show the daily climate change for all major oceans between 1750 and 1850 and compare it to today's conditions," Wheeler said in a recent interview. The project is expected to provide a vast amount of information on the weather at the time. There are a huge number of logbooks for the period still in existence, with over 250,000 in the UK alone.

Meanwhile, another team of scientists studying the world's oceans has uncovered evidence that climate change is altering the global water system. According to a new report published in the journal Nature, researchers have discovered significant changes over recent decades in the salinity levels found in the world's oceans. The changes suggest an acceleration of the Earth's global water cycle, which in turn is likely to have an impact on rainfall levels, floods and droughts. It could also hasten the process of global warming due to an increase in the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere.

BBC News Service, 29 December 2003

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3344749.stm

ENS News Service, 19 December 2003

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/dec2003/2003-12-19-01.asp