New Study Indicates Gulf Stream Shutting Down Due to Global Warming

To start off I'd like to address any potential skeptic responses to this thread that might go like this: "when it gets warmer they blame global warming, when it gets colder they blame global warming, that's why they had to re-name it climate change (how convenient)."

Although the below information may seem a bit counter-intuitive, please note this result has actually been predicted by climate scientists for quite some time.

It was brought up in this Nature article back in 1987: Unpleasant surprises in the greenhouse?

(which, by the way, was just one year before the IPCC, aka the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was formed)

Here are some modelled simulations from 1999:

Changing spatial structure of the thermohaline circulation in response to atmospheric CO2 forcing in a climate model

And, for those who particularly hate science - and prefer instead to have it “translated” by some shill, here is your favorite shill of them all explaining this exact process ten years ago:



Ok so now that we’ve got that cleared up, the actual science. Here is the new paper:

Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation

One of the interesting ironies to all this - part of the reason we can see it happening due to global warming - is because it’s one of the only spots in the world that hasn’t warmed over the last century:



The mechanism itself is a bit complicated (Al Gore actually explains it pretty well, so if you can suck it up for 3 min, the video above really is worth watching). But basically melting freshwater - e.g. from Greenland, Arctic sea ice, etc - is disrupting the flow by diluting the dense heavy salt water required to facilitate one end of this fancy geophysical conveyor belt. The science on this also has precedent, as it is considered a prime candidate for what caused sudden localized cold periods, while the world otherwise warmed out of the last ice age: See Younger Dryas


Consequences:

So what’s the doom forecast? Well the authors are pretty quick to point out this is not a “Day After Tomorrow” scenario, where a mini-ice age is coming, oh noes run. I thought about framing it this way for all the inevitable stars and flags it would’ve attracted, but sorry to disappoint I’d rather focus on more boring facts and stuff. What it could affect however is sea level rise on the east coast, since the gulf stream is currently holding a fair bit of that back apparently.

That may sound surprising, but here’s how it works. We’re starting out from a situation in which sea level is “anomalously low” off the U.S. east coast due to the motion of the Gulf Stream.

Global warming is now slowing down the circulation of the oceans — with potentially dire consequences

And before the Pavlovs start barking again - please note this concept also has some very recent precedent:

Sea levels from New York to Newfoundland jumped up about four inches in 2009 and 2010 because ocean circulation changed, a University of Arizona-led team reports in today's issue of Nature Communications.

Sea Level Spiked for Two Years Along NE North America

Also just to be clear, this situation for the east coast is on top of already projected sea level rise due to global warming. That’s another famous meme that climate cranks like to pretend is a failed prediction – i.e. “Al Gore said we’d all be under water by now”. When in fact, IPCC predictions have actually been criticized by other scientists for underestimating sea level:

Experts say the IPCC underestimated future sea level rise

Climate Science Predictions Prove Too Conservative

This new study turns out to be another log on that fire.

More reading:
What’s going on in the North Atlantic?

a reply to: mc_squared

Way to outdo me...

Whatever happens to Gaea, she has faced it before. I deeply belive and feel the past trauma of this planet body we live on (asteroid strikes are traumatic events for example).

Gaea is still here, beautiful as ever and still fillEd with life and longevity.

The humans, are more insignificant, and worry about everything their overly expansive minds, possibly can. With our tiny memories we don't comprehend or understand the history events this planet has taken...

So present changes on Earth are going to be shocking and sometimes disturbing to the worrying mind.

I say relax, live and let Earth be. There is nothing we can do, or will learn, that she hasn't been through. Technology is just toys and useless wet dreams of a minor species, to a celestial body.

Everything will be fine; Gaea, Sol, and humanity will remain constant with time..

a reply to: Elementalist

Well that's a relief. All those scientists with their fancy data and booksmarts had me worried for a minute. When my grandkids ask why the world they live in sucks so hard - I'll just point them to your reassuring post.

Oh admit it. You just want to raise taxes.

👣

a reply to: BlueMule

Yup. I LOVE paying taxes - who doesn't!

I do support the idea of a revenue neutral carbon tax though - where any money they take at the gas pump is just reimbursed through reductions in our income tax. We should be lowering taxes on the things we need more of (income) and raising them on the things we need less of (pollution).

a reply to: Elementalist

Everything will be fine; Gaea, Sol, and humanity will remain constant with time..

Everything will be fine; Gaea, Sol, and humanity will remain constant with time..

Humanity will come and go, just like countless extinct species before it.

a reply to: mc_squared

Ted Cruz will stop you tax-hungry liberals... with the power of denial! 💪

👣

if the gulf stream is slowed/impacted, wouldn't that make northern climes colder, bringing in a rapid building of the ice caps?

I get the "drag" effect of the rushing waters in the gulf stream. And i get that there would be a period of increase.

But wouldn't a gulf stream slowing also create a much colder northern climate with shorter warm seasons and much more brutal winters?

Great OP, by the way.

a reply to: mc_squared

I just watched James Hansen's latest (I think he did one or two before) Ted Talk and he talked about a neutral carbon pricing plan that made a lot of sense to me.

Now the tragedy about climate change is that we can solve it with a simple, honest approach of a gradually rising carbon fee collected from fossil fuel companies and distributed 100 percent electronically every month to all legal residents on a per capita basis, with the government not keeping one dime. Most people would get more in the monthly dividend than they'd pay in increased prices. This fee and dividend would stimulate the economy and innovations, creating millions of jobs. It is the principal requirement for moving us rapidly to a clean energy future.

Several top economists are coauthors on this proposition. Jim DiPeso of Republicans for Environmental Protection describes it thusly: "Transparent. Market-based. Does not enlarge government. Leaves energy decisions to individual choices. Sounds like a conservative climate plan."

Link to transcript.

These are all phases the earth goes through this is nothing new.

the only thing that has changed is that there is more carbon dioxide in the air well that's not a problem the earth actually needs it.

It's always the same one person cried global warming while the same person will call global cooling as well there are far greater things to worry about than global warming.

just my two cents don't take my head off...
😬😬

a reply to: mc_squared

What ever you do...

Don't mention "climate change" in Florida. You could be labeled a terrorist and given a nice long sentence for heresy.

www.onenewspage.us...

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

It will make Western Europe a little bit colder for a short while but eventually the extra heat in the oceans and the atmosphere will bring temperatures back up. Meanwhile east coast USA will be warmer and wetter.

a reply to: Kali74

Nice. Hansen was the one who introduced me to the concept as well, in this op-ed he did several years ago:

Cap and Fade


He tears apart cap & trade and suggests "fee and dividend" instead. Really kind of throws a wet blanket on the "all scientists are just making this up for the money" conspiracy. I believe Hansen is actually a registered Republican as well (or at least used to be...)

I dont know if i could do warmer in Florida we are already in the 80's to mid 80's this summer is goin to be brutal..a reply to: olaru12

a reply to: mc_squared

Yeah, sadly I don't think many can actually comprehend it due to memes that start running through their brains anytime some says Glo...

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Seconding what Kali wrote above. I think some of the consequences are still a fair bit uncertain though and it becomes a matter of perspective: many people see uncertainty as a reason for apathy and therefore nothing to worry about, while others would rather not wait to find out.

Where is this coming from I read this ten years ago.

a reply to: mc_squared

That kills me (maybe literally one day) if you were trying to cross railroad tracks and see a train coming you could try and cross first, I mean... you might make it.

originally posted by: Kali74
a reply to: mc_squared

Way to outdo me...

I gave you a sympathy star