There's a claim making it's way around the internet that the Gulf Stream has slowed. The proposed cause is the impact of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Here's a link to a blog with the earliest post I found with a brief Google search, first dated 29 Aug 2010:
http://europebusines.blogspot.com/2010/08/special-post-life-on-this-earth-just.html The Gulf Stream is a wind driven Western Boundary Current. I saw no discussion of this as the cause of the flow, only various conjectures about the impact of the chemicals used to disperse the oil from the blown out BP well. I think this claim is not supported by the facts and the spreading of this idea only adds to the confusion in the public mind regarding climate change. Of course, the Gulf Stream isn't the THC. While changes in the THC sinking in the Nordic and Labrador Seas might impact the path of the waters derived from the warm Gulf Stream, such as the North Atlantic Drift Current, that would not imply a shutdown of the basic wind driven flow. There's no apparent link offered which can explain a relationship between the oil spilled in the Gulf of Mexico and the strength of the THC. That said, I think it is possible that the THC has weakened, but the cause would most likely be the reported freshening of the Nordic Seas which has occurred over the past few decades. I've noted data from satellite passive microwave data which suggests that the slowdown may have started 3 winters ago. If so, we may indeed experience another cold winter over portions of of the NH. The weather is already getting interesting, with a massive storm moving out of the Pacific over the US northern plains and Canada with record low pressures recorded within. This lowest pressure measured, around 28.20" (955 mb), is comparable to the low pressure seen within a Cat 3 hurricane. http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/40673/midwest-storm-breaks-us-pressu.asp E. S. --- -- 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
