Eugene Leitl writes:
> Do the models involve a deflected Golfstream?
While we're at it - I guess I'm probably not the only person who saw this on
Discovery Channel: they have a piece about this global conveyor belt, a
current that runs through all the major seas and provides warmth to the more
polar parts of the world, while cooling the more equatorial parts of the
world. [Something like that, at least; I'm no expert.]
They say that research has shown that the increased melting of ice in
Greenland has caused decreased salinity of ocean water in that area, which
affects the conveyor belt in that area: because differences in salinity are
the motor that keeps the conveyor running, decreased salinity inhibits the
current.
If ice melting was to increase even more, the global conveyor belt might be
shortened, or even stopped completely, bringing on the next ice age. In the
decades (centuries?) to follow, glaciers would literally erase cities like
Chicago, Detroit [maybe even New York was mentioned? I definitely need that
hard disk upgrade for my brain].
This is, perhaps, a prospect much worse than a 10 degree warmup.
But then it was (")just Discovery Channel(").
Comments from experts appreciated.
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