Britain faces big chill as ocean current slows

[norml]

Britain faces big chill as ocean current slows
By Jonathan Leake, Science Editor
May 18, 2005, 14:08


May 08, 2005

CLIMATE change researchers have detected the first signs of a slowdown in the Gulf Stream — the mighty ocean current that keeps Britain and Europe from freezing.

They have found that one of the “engines” driving the Gulf Stream — the sinking of supercooled water in the Greenland Sea — has weakened to less than a quarter of its former strength.

The weakening, apparently caused by global warming, could herald big changes in the current over the next few years or decades. Paradoxically, it could lead to Britain and northwestern and Europe undergoing a sharp drop in temperatures.

Such a change has long been predicted by scientists but the new research is among the first to show clear experimental evidence of the phenomenon.




snip




http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_17762.shtml

[holboz]

1. Flipping typical...we're moving there in about a year

I mean, I know from my own experiences that England isn't exactly known for tropical temperatures but winters are already cold enough (and damp enough)

[cloudythescribbler]

2. yes, the "ice age" concern is misplaced, but not for Europe

As I understand it, the problem is that the melting of the Greenland Ice cap is sending in MUCH more cold FRESH water into the ocean, which threatens to push the Gulfstream South and cause a mini-ice age in Europe. It may also have something to do with the collapse (and failure to revive) the huge fishery off Newfoundland, in addition to overfishing until the ban came in.

Personally, I have long considered the destruction of the environment including the Greenhouse Effect to reflect an attitude on the part of the powers that pee -- 'We may leave the world in ruins, but we'll preside over the ruins'.

[applegrove]

3. Meanwhile, sand will overtake the Mediterranean and Europe will

be very crowded as a result. So maybe the desert next-door could warm them?

[slaveplanet]

4. this show deals with the subject

'Nuclear
Power &
the Global
Warming Scam
- Professor David
Bellamy exposes
shoddy science,
but whom does
the hype truly benefit? --by
Fintan Dunne

mp3
http://www.kathymcmahon.utvinternet.com/mrn/audio/InsideTrackNews050517a.mp3

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. David Bellamy is losing all credibility as a scientist

George Monbiot took apart his argument that most glaciers are growing (it turns out Bellamy took the figure from a website that has no source for it, and then misquoted it so that '55%' became '555' anyway). They then appeared together on a UK news programme, and Bellamy's response was "OK, the figures I gave were wrong, but you can't prove the global warming is man made". This is like saying you can't prove smoking casues lung cancer. The climatologists (Bellamy is not one - he's a botanist) say it is man made. Bellamy's argument is just an assertion that it's not.

Channel 4 News

The shoddy science is Bellamy's.

[norml]

6. Worst red tide in 12 years closes Bay State beds

Worst red tide in 12 years closes Bay State beds

By Associated Press



BOSTON - A toxic "red tide" has forced the state to shut down shellfish beds from the New Hampshire border to the Cape Cod Canal.
The algae plume, which state biologists said is the worst outbreak of red tide in 12 years, comes at the start of the shellfishing season.

"If I lose what I have ready to harvest, I’d lose up to $400,000," Duxbury oyster farmer George Shamma told The Patriot Ledger of Quincy.


snip


On Friday, the state closed beds from the New Hampshire line to the eastern edge of the Cape Cod Canal in Sandwich. Boston Harbor remained open to commercial fishermen who hold a special permit. Hickey said red tide is rarely detected in Boston Harbor’s waters because ocean currents pull the algae north up the coastline.



snip





http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/05222005/south_of/43693.htm