[article] Gulf Stream here to stay

Tabnabs

Gulf Stream here to stay
The Gulf Stream, that almost mythical flow of warm seas that makes Norway and a few other Nordic countries liveable, isn't about to disappear any time soon. New research contradicts earlier theories that it might.

Climate researchers have re-examined studies that indicated the Gulf Stream was weakening. It's long been a source of warmer seas flowing north through the Atlantic, and it also sends colder waters south.

The Gulf Stream flows roughly from the east coast of South America, around the Gulf of Mexico and across the Atlantic, where it heads north, east of Ireland, over towards Norway and around Iceland, before heading due south again.

The Danish Meteorological Institute (DMI) reports that several observations in recent years suggested the circulation of the Gulf Stream had weakened, possibly because of global warming. Studies, the institute noted, had suggested that the flow of cold water south was down by half.

A group of researchers from Denmark, the Faeroe Islands, Germany and Norway thus started paying closer attention to the Gulf Stream, and now they're releasing conclusions that can leave climate researchers breathing a sigh of relief.

"It hasn't only been possible to show that the currents instead have maintained a surprisingly constant strength during the last 50 years, but we can also point out where earlier signs of weakness were misleading," said Steffen M Olsen of DMI.

The researchers have studied new and historic measures of the Gulf Stream’s strength over the undersea ridges between Iceland and Greenland.

Olsen cautioned, however, that changes may still occur. "We can’t rule that out," Olsen wrote in an article publishing the group's findings. The risk of a collapse in the warm circulation of the Atlantic just "isn't as probable in the near future as we had feared."

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article2677486.ece

derry

I thought that they proved some time ago that the facts that the conveyer belt gulf stream was weaking was done with outright lies and distortion of the data

This merely confims the gulf stream is fine and going strong

Derry

Húrin

This has been known for a cúpla years now - you can find it in Mark Lynas' book "Six Degrees" (2007). The original theory that the stream would stop was not based on lies. It just became outdated when scientists learned more. However, this should not reduce the urgency of dealing with climate change, as the other issues have not gone away.