Huge pool of fresh water in Arctic could disturb Europe's climate, oceanographers say

[Fuddnik]

Source: Cleveland.com (AP)

Huge pool of fresh water in Arctic could disturb Europe's climate, oceanographers say
Published: Tuesday, April 05, 2011, 12:22 PM Updated: Tuesday, April 05, 2011, 12:30 PM


AMSTERDAM (AP) — Scientists are monitoring a massive pool of fresh water in the Arctic Ocean that could spill into the Atlantic and potentially alter the ocean currents that bring Western Europe its moderate climate.

The oceanographers said Tuesday the unusual accumulation has been caused by Siberian and Canadian rivers dumping more water into the Arctic, and from melting sea ice. Both are consequences of global warming.

If it flushes into the Atlantic, the infusion of fresh water could, in the worst case, change the ocean current that brings warmth from the tropics to European shores, said Laura De Steur, of the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research.

German researcher Benjamin Rabe, of the Alfred Wegener Institute, said the Arctic's fresh water content had increased 20 percent since the 1990s, or by 8,400 cubic kilometers. That is the equivalent of all the water contained in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron in the U.S. or double the volume of water in Lake Victoria, Africa's largest lake.

(more)

Read more: http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf/2011/04/huge_pool_of_fresh_water_in_ar.html

[ixion]

1. If it flushes...not 'if'... when

just sayin'...

[d_r]

2. the thing is

When the ocean currents are disrupted and western europe gets colder, England for example will be much colder, then people are going to say "see? see how could it is Europe? There's no global warming!"

[Moostache]

4. Then kindly STOP calling it that unfortunate misnomer!

Say it with me - catastrophic climate CHANGE....not goddamn WEATHER....not isolated to ONLY WARMING....just CHANGE. And not in a Barrack Obama campaign slogan type of "change" either...real, significant and life-altering change!

[d_r]

12. your acting local

I'm thinking global.

j/k

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

3. Well, we could cut a channel and dump it into the Bering Sea

Then the gulf stream would be safe.

What could go wrong?

:shrug:

[Possumpoint]

7. If The Salinity Levels In The Altantic

Are disrupted by the infusion of a lot of fresh water the water current that the Gulf Stream is part of could conceivably stop. If so, more then the UK will get cold. The ME would go into an extended drought. Interesting times we live in.

[mainer]

5. They made a movie about this

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0319262/

So nobody should be surprised by it.

[freshwest]

18. I remember it. Illegal Americans aliens ended up begging to get into Mexico.

[Mojorabbit]

6. uh oh.... nt

[abqmufc]

8. I love when movies become a reality...

See "Day After Tomorrow"...

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

9. Maybe it'll dilute the pool of radioactive water coming from Japan.

[XemaSab]

10. Not a geography major, are ya?

:P

[DavidDvorkin]

11. The stupid is strong in the comments section

But I guess that's to be expected.

[Enthusiast]

13. Some believe this could trigger

a Younger Dryas-like event. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Younger_Dryas

[hack89]

14. This may have happened 400 years ago

the Little Ice age lasted from approximately 1550 to 1800. An ocean conveyor slowdown is one of the possible causes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age#Ocean_Conveyor_slowdown

[PurityOfEssence]

15. Yes, this has been posited for some time.

Sadly, though, if the Gulf Stream gets deflected so it curls to the East at a lower latitude, the effect will be making England a very icy land, and the result in the idiotsphere will be to say "See? It's not getting warmer..."

Watching all this, for those of us up on the science and the inescapable reality of it all, is like no metaphors I can conjure. Thousands of slow-motion car accidents at once fall short in comparison to the horror. The massive disruption caused by sudden climate change in even one area of the earth has terrible ramifications.

Yet, people are allowed to do nothing, our President "negotiates" to make everyone happy, thus whetting the appetite for the reactionaries to rub his nose in it and force him to do less, depressing the rest of us see this and sapping the will of environmentalists to give a damn about this administration.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, Fuddnik.

[freshwest]

17. Sounds like concerns over the ocean circulation slowing down are finally happening.