Friday, 31 January 2014

Atlantic ocean currents

I was struck by these comments by Prof. Chris Busby. Although he is not a climate scientist his comments resonate with me

Chris Busby: "Gulf stream seems to failing. i have noticed increasingly the depressions get stuck in mid - Atlantic. we have had stuck depressions mid atlantic since november and a continuous high over scandinavia which means high winds and rain in England and cold easterlies in Latvia with no snow. Scary."



I have followed with some apposite comments from Michael Green.

Is the Gulf Stream failing?




Must'a been a reason why I felt moved to see "The Day After Tomorrow" once again a few days ago. 

People rightfully complain about the hyperbole and the bad acting/storyline, but that really wasn't of importance. 

We will not "wake up" and do anything meaningful until something like this occurs.

It could be an interruption of the thermohalene current or a spike in the wet-bulb temperatures in summer, rather like Singapore was threatened with last year, except this time causing millions of deaths.



Or perhaps Ft. McMurray will flood, spilling its guts into the Arctic Ocean, which would decimate the economy of Canada, not to mention turning the Arctic black as night, which will superheat the waters and the climate even more.



We can do impact statements till the cows come home, but one way or another, this kind of thing is probably in the offing, and I am guessing very soon.


New updates for earth.nullschool.net! 

Now you can see global ocean surface currents in near real-time. Just click here:


(A browser refresh may be required to pick up the changes.)



This image shows the Gulf Stream, which you can read about on Wikipedia:



What other powerful ocean currents can you find?



Earth & Space Research in Seattle, WA, produces this data every five days as part of the OSCAR project:



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