Greetings, people of Steemit! Welcome to my blog!
I've been seeing these stories in the news for the last couple of days, that the Atlantic Ocean currents have been slowing down. According to 1 study, the currents have slowed down by about 15 percent since the 1800s, putting them at their slowest in about 1500 years. I'm not sure how they came up with that number, but I assume it's based on ocean research.
Ocean currents are driven in part by the temperature differentials between the warm water at the equator and the cold water in the higher latitudes, both north and south, as well as the temperature differences between surface water and deep water. As the waters of the higher latitudes continues to get warmer faster than the ocean in the equatorial areas, this affects the currents in a negative way, slowing them down. Research has been showing a steady increase in the average temperature of the water in the Arctic and near Arctic oceans, more so than the slight increase in the equatorial water temperature. The changes in temperature don't seem like very much, but they have a big impact on the climate.
"The slowing down of the currents could have significant weather effects. The ocean helps to retain heat and distribute this heat throughout the planet. Heat absorption cause the ocean to evaporate into the atmosphere and eventually form rains and storms, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The currents help to transport this warm water from the equator toward the poles, and transport cold water from these areas back to the equator. This helps even out global weather patterns."
A quote from this news story.
http://www.newsweek.com/climate-change-global-warming-ocean-currents-885237?yptr=yahoo
As the ocean currents slow down, weather patterns start to change, as the ocean warms up, it tends to drive more severe weather. Both of these things are unpredictable, but the trend is becoming more visible as the changes continue. As I wrote about in a previous post, Greenland continues to lose ice mass, which contributes fresh water to the north Atlantic ocean, and that extra fresh water has a disruptive effect on the ocean currents due to the effect it has on the heat carrying capacity of the ocean water.
This trend seems to be quite likely to continue as the average temperatures of the oceans continue to gradually increase. The reasons for the gradual increase in ocean temperature are complex and debatable, but the trend is a reality, as shown by data collection.
I found this to be an interesting news story, how relevant it is in a daily life, I guess I would leave that up to you, the reader, to decide.
If you would like to read my last climate related post, here is the link to that.
https://steemit.com/news/@preppin-for-real/greenland-s-summer-lakes-on-the-ice-sheet-contributing-to-increased-ice-loss
Both of the pictures used in this post were found on wikimedia creative commons.
Thank you for reading my post! I hope you found this information interesting.
