The sloshing back and forth of warm and cold waters – El Niño and La Niña – in the shallow layer of the equatorial Pacific Ocean will continue to produce fluctuations in surface temperatures every year. Over longer periods, however, the risk that the heat currently stored in the deep ocean will resurface is remote.
与此同时，对我们的环境所造成的总风险是否因为升温暂停而降低仍是一个开放性问题。一些人认为有落必有起。太平洋赤道浅层暖流和冷流——厄尔尼诺和拉尼娜——的交替将继续制造每年的地表温度波动。但是，在更长的时间里，目前存储在深海中的热量重新浮出表面的风险很小。