No, I'm saying that the THC happens in the Nordic Seas and the Arctic Ocean, not the North Atlantic Sub-Polar Gyre. The Arctic Mediterranean has that name because the deeper waters are connected via the deep sill in the Fram Strait. Water which sinks in the Arctic Ocean feeds the Greenland Sea via that deep trough. The flow of water which becomes the THC is a small fraction of the Gulf Stream and arises from waters which are of lower salinity than the water in the Sub-Tropical Gyre. That's why the water must become very cold to sink.
http://www-pord.ucsd.edu/~ltalley/papers/2000s/wiley_talley_salinitypatterns.pdf The models which have been used to study the THC suggest that sinking can happen further south due to freshening of the Arctic Mediterranean, thus cooling the climate around the Nordic Seas. That does not mean that the Gulf Stream would stop, just that the location of sinking would change. The PEA does not reflect the THC sinking, only the major surface flow of the Gulf Stream, most of which turns back toward the south and flows around the Sub-Tropical Gyre. Please look at Figure 12 which I referenced in my last post. Here's a later paper by Curry and Mauritzen to give you a more up-to- date sense of what's happening: "Dilution of the Northern North Atlantic Ocean in Recent Decades", Science 17 June 2005: Vol. 308, pp. 1772 - 1774 DOI: 10.1126/science.1109477 E. S. ---------------------------------------------------------------- On Oct 8, 5:37 pm, Robert I Ellison <[email protected]> wrote: > It is clearly the Bermuda-Labrador Transport Index whcich is based on > potential engergy anomalies (PEA) which gives an indication of the > strength of the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift. > > http://ioc-goos-oopc.org/state_of_the_ocean/sub/berm_lab_trans.php > > The Climatic Research -http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info/thc/- has > some interesting and up to date graphics on both surface and deep > flows [cut] > You seem to be arguing that the Gulf Steam and associated North > Atlantic Drift is not involved in thermo-haline circulation dynamics. > I think you are just playing with words for your own reasons - not > showing good fath at all. [cut] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalchange
