Very efficient in transferring thermal energy through the method of convection and perhaps through conduction also.
I also agree that without the polar ice sheets the Earth would be much warmer.

I understand that the surface temperature of the oceans has been measured and found to have increased by ½ to 1 degree Celsius.
There must be a reason why the surface water temperature of the oceans has increased.

Several possible scenarios have been thought of that might cause such an effect.

The one that is most talked about is the greenhouse effect.
Under that scenario, the gasses such as carbon dioxide absorb infrared energy and retain that energy more effectively than the nitrogen and oxygen that make up most of Earth's atmosphere.
The idea then is that, if these infrared absorbing gasses increase in quantity and accumulate in the atmosphere, then the Earth's atmosphere will become warmer.

The question that I have with this scenario is: IF the water has been measured to be warmer by one degree, then why has not the air been measured to be warmer at least by the same amount?

I can not believe that the greenhouse explanation is the only good explanation, until the air and water temperature measurements correlate with each other and are linked with the quantity of greenhouse gases.

Another suggestion that has been made is that the solar radiation has increased causing the increase in water surface temperature.
If that was the case, then again the atmospheric temperature should follow the water temperature rise.

Under the scenario that you proposed, the temperature of the water should be relatively constant since there still is ice at the poles of the planet.

It takes a lot of energy to increase the surface temperature of the Earth's oceans by one degree. (As calculated by RL some time ago)

So , the question is: How can the SUN heat the ocean water without heating the air?

My condensed conjecture is as follows:

People learned how to extract and condense radioactive material, then they used it in ways that they thought was beneficial. In the process of using such power they spread the active effect all over the planets atmosphere, including the very high regions near the area that is considered as space.
The activity that was introduced into the very high atmosphere infected the molecules that were there. Many of the infected molecules got very excited and could not withstand the heat so they escaped into space ;-) To put it another way, the radioactive molecules received very high kinetic energies from the fissioning atoms, this allowed the molecules to escape the Earth's gravitational field.
When the molecules of the upper atmosphere escaped, they took the heat with them, they also left the atmosphere that much less dense, meaning that the energy from the sun had a easier time penetrating to the surface of the planet.

Heat of the atmosphere escaped into space and the sun heated the surface of the water and land to a higher degree.

Then the lower density of the atmosphere allowed the air molecules to move faster creating more ferocious storms, also the lower atmospheric density allowed the internal pressures of the planet to move the planets surface more strongly than usual. These movements or earthquakes, caused various amounts of destruction in different parts of the world.

The greater the radioactivity in the upper atmosphere the faster the escaping of air into space, the faster the air escapes the quicker the strong storms will develop and the longer they will last.

Johannes