Vocabulary Check 3

The upper layers of Earth's oceans have cooled (1. SIGNIFY) (a)   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) (a)   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.

(a)  

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

Now (6. MEASURE) (a)   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) (a)   .

They found that the oceans dropped in temperature by an (8.BELIEVE) (a)   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) (a)   .

It is possible that (10. VOCANO) (a)   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 (a)   of the countryside, left long-term scars. (POPULATE)