The Earth operates on oceanic time scales - with cycles lasting a 1,000 years. 

The oceans are the thermal heat engine for the world. They contain 91% of all retained heat energy, the atmosphere holds maybe 1 or 2%. Water is 1,000 times heavier and denser than air and this makes it the world's thermal great storage battery. They also contain 86% of the world's entire carbon reservoir, the atmosphere has only 1-2%. 

Yet somehow, a trace gas has been cast as the control knob for the world's climate and CO2 levels. The oceans are the driving force for the movement of all heat energy, the rise and fall of CO levels and all clouds and water vapour in the air. Water vapour is the most important gas for retaining heat energy in the atmosphere, up to 4% of the atmosphere in tropical and temperate regions. CO2 is 0.042%.

While the oceans are the engine room, the mainstream argument is that atmospheric composition acts as the thermostat, or valve, that regulates how much of that solar energy stays in the system versus escaping to space.

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©Peter Clark, @PeterDClark /X