Gulf Stream is weakest it's been in more than 1,000 years, study says

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A group of scientists from Europe presented new research this week claiming that the Gulf Stream is weaker now than it's been at any point over the last 1,000 years. The Gulf Stream is an Atlantic Ocean current that plays a largely hidden role in shaping weather patterns in the United States. Much has been researched and learned about the influential current over the past 500 years, particularly due to the expertise of one of America's Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin.

But in recent decades, a shift in the Gulf Stream's circulation has become weaker than any other time over the last millennium, according to a recently published study by scientists from Ireland, Britain and Germany. The weakening of the Gulf Stream, formally known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), can be mostly pinned to one catalyst, the researchers said: human-caused climate change.

The Gulf Stream current moves a massive amount of water across the Atlantic Ocean. According to Stefan Rahmstorf, one of the study's authors, it moves nearly 20 million cubic meters of water per second, acting like a giant conveyor belt.

How strong of a current is that? "Almost a hundred times the Amazon flow," he told the Potsdam Institute.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/gulf-stream-is-weakest-its-been-in-more-than-1000-years-study-says/ar-BB1e3GN5?li=BBnbfcL

[Bayard]

1. Harbinger of disaster

The movie, "The Day After Tomorrow", comes to mind.

[Chainfire]

2. Look out Western Europe

[hatrack]

3. Good luck, Norfolk . . . .

IIRC, DelMarVa is located at one of the outside bends in the current (so to speak), such that it piles up there.

Sea level in Norfolk is already up 1.5 feet during the 20th century, which is about 2X the rate for the rest of the country.

Further slowing means further piling up, and they're already in trouble trying to keep ahead of clear-day flooding.

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2020/11/flooding-in-low-lying-norfolk-virginia-now-a-chronic-problem/

[OnlinePoker]

4. It's rarely mentioned, but Norfolk is also sinking into the Chesepeake Bay impact crater.

This accounts for a couple of millimeters a year added onto the actual sea level rise.

[hatrack]

6. True - 3.5 mm/Year, per JPL

EDIT

Sea level rise is already adversely affecting infrastructure in Hampton Roads. The problem has already reduced Norfolk’s storm water system capacity by 50%, according to data from a sensor network. Water levels could rise by more than a foot and a half by 2050, according to a report from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

In addition to rising water levels, the land itself in Hampton Roads is literally sinking. The phenomenon, called subsidence, is due to both natural ecological processes and human removal of groundwater. Virginia Beach and Norfolk are sinking 3.5 millimeters a year, according to a 2020 study from ODU and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“With coastal Virginia continuing to sink, major assets of Virginia’s economy are at risk of being lost, potentially costing the state billions in solutions,” said Billy Beale, chairman of the regional Go Virginia council for the Middle Peninsula, in a news release.

In addition to Hampton Roads’ urban centers, the project is focusing on the miles of undeveloped land on the Middle Peninsula that is equally under threat from climate change, Morgan said.

EDIT

https://www.pilotonline.com/inside-business/vp-ib-go-virginia-grant-0125-20210126-qv4n4pccxjahjlmutuiserun4m-story.html

[Ferrets are Cool]

5. This has been my deepest fear for the last 10 years.

When we lose the Gulf Stream, it's all over.