In order to understand the impact of climate change, a scientist collected measurements of average yearly sea surface temperatures from 1880 to 2012. His data is graphed below. How has average ocean temperature changed in the period from 1980 to 2010? a graph depicting yearly sea surface temperature from 1880-2012. The X axis represents the years from 1880 to 2010 in increments of ten years. The Y axis represents the difference from average temperature in degrees Fahrenheit ranging from -1.6 to 0.6. 1880 shows a temperature difference of -0.8, 1890 shows a temperature difference of -1.1, 1900 shows a temperature difference of -1.05, 1910 shows a temperature difference of -1.5, 1920 shows a temperature difference of -1.15, 1930 shows a temperature difference of -0.9, 1940 shows a temperature difference of -0.55, 1950 shows a temperature difference of -0.8, 1960 shows a difference of -0.5, 1970 shows a difference of -0.7, 1980 shows a temperature difference of -0.3, 1990 shows a temperature difference of -0.2, 2000 shows a temperature difference of -0.19 and 2010 shows a temperature difference of 0.1.
© 2016 NOAA

Ocean temperatures have decreased on average.
Ocean temperatures have increased on average.
Ocean temperatures have become more varied on average.
Ocean temperatures have become less varied on average.