the ironic thing about Major Global Climate Change
- From: "the Bede" <rspwsownthebede@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:09:43 -0600
if it happens (and for purposes of this thread I'm just saying "*IF*",
okay--let's not debate the percentages here) is how it won't change RSPW
much.
Dig the chain of circumstances: 1) The planet-wide atmosphere warms by
several degrees. 2) This causes the north and south polar caps to melt by X
amount. 3) That causes sea level to rise by Y amount, but only Krusty and
Barnett notice. 4) Here's where it gets complicated: Since the Arctic
Ocean is mostly landlocked, all that new water is dumped into the North
Atlantic Ocean. And the ice caps are fresh water, not salt water. 5) Fresh
water, being less dense, "floats" on top of salt water. The new cold fresh
water in the north is (if the math is correct, of course) enough to disrupt
the eastward flow of the Gulf Stream (as we Americans call it) from Canada
to Ireland, pushing it far to the south.
6) So now the North Atlantic has greatly changed, because its part in the
world's thermohaline circulation has been wrecked. The warmer waters of the
Gulf Stream no longer go so far northward. 7) Coastal weather is affected by
the temperature of nearby water. With the far-north North Altantic colder,
Iceland, Scandanavia, and Greater Britain become 5 or 10 degrees colder,
even as the rest of the globe heats up. 8) On the American side of the
ocean, local weather is also changed by the Gulf Stream turning eastward at
a lower latitude. Greenland and Maritime Canada cool off. 9) Even New
England and the Mid-Atlantic coast get some chilling effect from a cooler
ocean.
10) So most of the planet is several degrees warmer, but DC, NYC, and Boston
are unchanged, or maybe even slightly colder. This means that Lord Gow's
weather won't change. 99.9 of the planet could agree that global warming
has occurred and he'll still be posting "it was cold on me today, so Al Gore
is a con man."
the Bede in Exile
?;-)>
The more things change, the more they'll stay the same.
.
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