Ocean water rises as it gains heat
Because water expands as it warms, scientists can predict global weather patterns by measuring hills and valleys in the ocean surface from space.
The surface of the ocean is not a flat plane, but a shifting landscape of hills and valleys. When a massive volume of water absorbs heat, it undergoes thermal expansion, physically taking up more space and causing the sea level to bulge upward. Scientists use satellites like the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich to track these subtle changes in height, which serve as an early warning system for global weather shifts.
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