Hello! So like most of you here, I have been wondering about what kind of affect the Deepwater oil spill has had on the natural ocean currents that
bring warm weather to the north. In the worst case scenario, if the currents have stopped, that means that we could be facing another Ice Age.
However, I decided that I needed to do some original research in order to determine for myself what is going on. That meant tracking down satellite
data, of which I was able to get both thermal and data on current movement for the past year. What you need to do is allow your browser to load all of
the .gif images, and then it will repeat the cycle at a faster rate.
Here is the first success, it is a thermal map of activity in the Gulf of Mexico:
Thermal Gulf of Mexico, Past 12 Months
Here is a map of the thermal activity off of the east coast of North America:
Gulf Stream, Past Year
Here is a map of the gulf stream as it currently stands, with arrows:
Gulf Stream, Current
Here is a map of the gulf stream from exactly one year ago, September 19, 2009:
Gulf Stream, 2009
I have a comparison image, could someone help me figure out how to upload images to this site so I can link to them? Thanks. In all, I can spot little
difference in the stream between a year ago and now according to the arrows.
Lastly, here is the animated map of the gulf stream over the past year:
Gulf Stream, Past 12 Months (Animated)
This is a little hard once the animation gets rolling. I admit that there definitely seems to be a stop in the gulf stream around and before early
September... but there seems to be a sudden rush of water around mid-September. I believe with that last bit of data, I will have to wait about a
month and post again.
More to look at on this:
September 1, 2009
September 1, 2010
Anyone else have any thoughts on the matter, or is possibly better at interpreting the data?
Source of Data:
Gulf Stream Data, Navy