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The reported overall rise in global surface temperatures since the latter 19th Century is viewed largely as an atmospheric phenomena. However, we show that the global ocean is an important component in determining global surface temperatures. Via an empirical, mathematical methodology, we reveal the intrinsic modes of variability of planetary temperatures over the past 160 years, and find periods of cooling and warming, with multiple modes of variability; seasonal, inter-annual, decadal, multi-decadal and an overall warming trend. Our calculated overall rate of warming differs significantly from the estimate of the Intergovernmental Program on Climate Change, as well as the Nongovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We also investigate the modes of variability of recognized climate factors, and find a previously unreported 140 year cycle in two climate system data sets. A relatively large amplitude 60 - 70 year cycle mode appears in all of the climate factors, and may be related to the time scale of the oceanic Meridional Overturning Circulation. This and other oceanic features may modulate global surface temperatures. An empirical relationship between fossil fuel burning and the global surface temperature anomaly time series overall trend emerges from our reduction of the non-stationary, non-linear data.

Rayleigh lidar observations of mesosphere temperature profiles obtained from 40 to ∼100 km from Logan, Utah (41.7, 111.8 W, altitude, 1.9 km) over 10 nights in late February, 1995, revealed an interesting development between 60 to 75 km of a winter mesosphere inversion layer with an amplitude of ∼20–30 K and a downward phase progression of ∼1 km/hr. The data also showed two altitude regions exhibiting significant cooling of 10–30 K in extent. These were located below and above the peak of the inversion layer, respectively, at altitudes of ∼50–55 km and ∼70–80 km. When these results were compared with the predictions of a global wave scale model (GSWM), the observed thermal mesosphere structure is similar to the computed composite tidal structure based upon the semi‐diurnal and diurnal tides with the exception that observed amplitudes of heating and cooling are ∼10x larger than predicted GSWM values. We suggest that these events over Utah are caused through a localized mechanism involving the coupling of gravity waves to the mesopause tidal structure.