I heard the news of underwater data centers being created in mass quantities by China and I was curious if it was better to heat the water or to heat the air when it comes to impacting the environment. I discussed this with somebody online and I'm not sure who is right.

My Hypothesis: The water doesn't lose heat as efficiently as the air does as air is the only way for the heat to leave the atmosphere is to exit into space. From heating up the surface water, it would in turn heat up the polar ice caps more than any green house gas as the heat transference from ocean to icecap is more than air to icecap. The property of retaining heat is what makes green house gases so bad and the ocean retains the heat better than any gas so I believe releasing the heat directly into the ocean would melt the icecaps much faster than in the air.

Counter hypothesis: The usage of the ocean as a cooling substantially lowers energy costs. The heat transference between the surface of the ocean and the air is so great that it can be considered the same entity, thus meaning saving in energy usage would be better as it wouldn't matter where to put the heat waste.

Who's correct and is there math/research to prove it?

About a couple of weeks ago, a major underwater oil pipeline has a leak of over 1 million gallons of oil. The Gulf of Mexico has already had major oil spills, especially the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, which leaked 200 million gallons. Because of that spill, I stopped going to the Gulf, however after all these years I decided it was time for me to visit again. And then this happened. The Exxon Valdez spill has 11 million gallons of oil. What will the extent of this spill be? How much is a million gallons of oil for the Gulf? How far will it affect it? What are your thoughts? And would you go swimming in the Gulf?

When they are old or sick do they just lose the ability to swim and drown?