Tuesday, September 26, 2006

When London freezes over

Buried in the details of a dry "news release" is some worrisome news on ocean currents. Nobody is paying attention now, but they just might when London freezes over some winter.

Seems the North Atlantic Ocean is getting less salty, due to more rain. Why is this important? Because it just might slow down or stop the world famous "Atlantic Deep Water formation."

The sinking currents in the North Atlantic bring warm water north, and help keep Europe greener and warmer than other places that far north. Look at a globe, and see how far north Europe really is.

OK, not exactly front page news, but it's one of those rare moments when real oceanography has something important to tell us. Ocean currents, like sewage systems, only get noticed when they quit working.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Odd that this isn't "front page news", since the current shutdown would be a catastrophe, one that could be averted perhaps. Perhaps Freud was right, humanity does have a "death wish".???