Thursday, April 12, 2018

So This Is Bad Climate News For Europe and the Gulf of Mexico

(link)
The Gulf Stream Current is breaking down. That is bad for North America and Europe.

Europe is much farther north than one would expect. In fact, it lays at about the same latitudes as Canada (the Mediterranean and the USA are at about the same latitudes). What keeps much of Western and Northern Europe from being butt-ass cold is the Gulf Stream Current.

Now when I was studying the Climate Change's impact on the Gulf Stream, it was assumed that it was going to be in good shape until / unless Greeenland's ice sheets melted. 

Well, we know a lot more now that when I studied this in 1981. Turns out Arctic sea ice melt is bad for it too.

So what happens if it continues to slow down...
  1. More and stronger Hurricanes in the Carribean, US and Central America.  Why? If the current slows down, it is less effective in removing hot water from the Caribbean. That increases hurricane intensity - we just saw this with the hurricane that sat over Houston last year. The water in the gulf was near 90 degrees (F) and supported the storm as it sat just inland. And int he devastation in Caribbean (i.e. Puerto Rico)
  2. More cold snaps in England, Holland, Norway and Iceland. Why? Less consistent warming. See this year's late snows in London.
  3. Lots of unknowns in the Mediterranean and southern Europe. Why? The feeder currents to the Gulf Stream are from Northwestern Africa. If they stall, maybe bigger Hurricanes much later in North America. If they stall AND Africa gets hotter, less food in the Sahel and and unknown weather impact in Italy, Greece and France.
 Fasten your seatbelts...