Basically, as far as thermodynamics is concerned, entropy will gradually increase until the temperatures of the atmosphere, the land and the oceans are all the same, the only thing stopping this is the work done on the system by the sun and the weather driven by the sun.
It normally takes hundreds of years to warm up the deep ocean, that is why CO2 expiry lags temperature change by hundreds of years. Maybe it is speeding up ever so slightly due to the slightly higher temperature differential. Water can hold vastly more heat than air, with a much smaller temperature increase. I suspect that is why it would be difficult to spot. Plus it is at the depths of the oceans. It would make sense if a lot to the heat went there, if you think about it.
The other thing about the last 15 years, as far as I am aware, is there has been lower activity from the sun causing slightly less heat to reach the planet, yet we are still warming!
Also, there have been hiatuses of 15 years or so before, warming hasn't gone up in a straight line in the past, why all the big hoo haa now? The moving average would still be going up. Much of this has been distorted by 1998 being such an outlier. Now 1998 is the new norm! That also has to be a major concern.
