Massive East Coast Snowstorm Linked To Slowing North Atlantic Current - New Scientist

[hatrack]

EDIT

The El Niño that helped push global temperatures to record-smashing levels last year may also have played a part. But there may be more to it.

Ocean temperatures just off the east coast have been warming even faster than global temperatures, Stefan Rahmstorf of Potsdam University in Germany pointed out in a blog post on Sunday. Further north, however, the waters south of Greenland and Iceland are cooler than normal.

This is exactly the pattern expected if the circulation is slowing down: more heat staying by the east coast instead of being carried north. We know the current has slowed over the past decade, thanks to direct measurements. What isn’t clear, says Leon Hermanson of the UK’s Met Office, who studies how the North Atlantic Ocean influences the weather, is how much this slowdown contributed to the unusual warmth off the east coast.

Another key question is whether the observed slowdown of the current is part of an ongoing trend driven by global warming, or just a result of natural variation. A few studies – including one published by Rahmstorf’s team last year – suggest that it is part of a long-term trend driven by global warming. But since we have only a decade of direct measurements, it is too soon to be sure, says Hermanson.

EDIT

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2075131-us-east-coast-snowstorms-linked-to-slowdown-of-atlantic-current/

[TexasProgresive]

1. If the Atlantic Conveyor is slowing it should affect NW Europe

with more severe low temperatures. Is that happening.

I have been concerned about the slowing or ceasing of the movement of warm water from the Gulf of Mexico and cold water from the Arctic because this makes NW Europe much more habitable. I've never read what might me the result of bottling up all that heat in the Gulf and the Southern North Atlantic. We live in interesting times.

[4139]

2. Change in North Atlantic Circulation [NASA, July 18, 2001]

A NASA satellite confirms that overturning in the North Atlantic Ocean—a process where surface water sinks and deep water rises due to varying water densities—speeds up and slows down by 20 to 30 percent over 12- to 14-year cycles. Scientists previously believed that a change of this magnitude would take hundreds of years, rather than close to a decade.[read more>>>
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=1599


I'm puzzled by the 'new' report?

[phantom power]

3. Oopsie.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

4. wow - not good

we are moving rapidly into uncharted waters