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

[true_notes]

1. Here in the Meteoroligical Office We...

are expecting very strange weather. According to NOAA and METEUR (Europe's version of NOAA)there are large scale droughts expected accross the Russian Steppe, and in Bavaria in Southern Germany. This is all due to the cooling of the Atlantic, and has been dubbed Picolo Bambina by the Italians, because it resembles a little la nina.

Folks, I know this is all old news, but we are in for a rough ride, particularly in the US and in Aisa, because of the large land mass that they consume. The Earth is getting ready to recycle itself once more, and something as powerful as the earth can't be a pretty thing to be recycling. But overall, I know we cannot stop the warming, it has turned irreversible.

[norml]

3. 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

[Coastie for Truth]

2. People don't believe this

I have gone through some "Earth Science for Dummies" level books in oceanography and meteorology and geology (I live within walking distance of the Calaveras-Hayward Fault, my wife works near the famed San Andreas Fault) -- lots of "popular" "layman level" earth science - geology - meteorology - oceanography stuff in our local papers. But nothing really ties it together above the local paper science column and "Discovery Channel" level - short of a full fledged doctoral program.

Most people can not comprehend the "second order partial differential equations" that describe these phenomena - and the Bushies tell us it is "junk science."

We have got a major education problem - and an uphill battle against the Bushies, and Big Oil, and the "Flat Earth - Creationist - Luddite" community that is in league with the Bushies and Big Oil.