Question for Andrew Dessler: If "the pause" in global warming is being driven mostly by ocean variability, how much of the warming *before* the pause was also driven mostly by ocean variability?

Tropical ocean key to global warming ‘hiatus’ : Nature News & Comment

Andrew Dessler, a climatologist at Texas A&M University in College Station, said the results convincingly show that the 'pause' in global warming is being driven mostly by ocean variability.
“If this turns out to be correct,” he adds, “then it seems very likely
that the energy being trapped by greenhouse gases is indeed going into
the deep ocean.”