Has the North Atlantic Current changed?

I have been following the North Atlantic Current for about a year now. Granted that is not enough time to make me an expert by any stretch of the imagination but I feel I am observant enough to spot some possible changes. Please correct me if you find flaws in my logic.

It would seem that if the current was failing that the tropics would become warmer and the polar regions would begin to cool. Has this happened? The north eastern US has experienced two very severe winters in a row. Fluke? Possibly.

Here is the kicker. The South Atlantic had the first observed hurricane since the invention of satellite tracking. If the current was weaking/failing it is certainly possible that the tropics would begin to warm and it would seem the tropics in the southern hemisphere would be able to warm enough to support tropical systems. Coincidence? Maybe.

Now for the past 12 months I have been checking a website on an almost daily basis to see how the ocean velocities were doing. At first you could see a fairly well defined gulf stream. As the year progressed into the winter the current got weaker and weaker until there was no longer a visible north/south eliment to the current. By late winter much of the current seemed to have faded from the charts. Perhaps as the ocean temps changed during the winter the current disappeared below the surface. As spring came around the west to east component of the current became visible again but the north south component remained hidden. Now for reasons unknown the website that contains the maps has stopped producing updates. This has been going on for a few weeks or so.

Here is the link to where I was getting the charts from.
www.deos.tudelft.nl...

As of the past 6 months or so I have been watching the sea surface temps (SST) which gives a good indication of how the current is impacting the ocean temps. The impact on Europe is obvious however in the recent weeks there has been something show up on the charts that has me puzzled.

www.fnmoc.navy.mil...

As you move away from NY and head toward Europe you will see a sharp hook just under half way across the ocean. This shows a dip in the cold waters. This southward movement of the cold water wasnt there a couple of weeks ago. Is this normal for this time of the year? Is this southward component a product of the front side of a bermuda high?

Is it simply a coincidence that this hook shows up roughtly the same time as the maps stop updating that show the ocean velocities. Are these changes to the current and the changes to the ocean temps normal or is this something to be concerned about?

I don't know-but I will be following this post closely.

That last link doesn't work?

It works but for reasons unknown to man they use ssl on that page. And you have to accept their less than standard certificate to display the page. Since you aren't transfering secure data it really doesn't matter. It really does puzzle me why they put a pic like that on an encrypted page.

I just can't seem to get it at all, it comes up with 'Cannot find Server!'

You dont get a window that pops up or anything? I get one and if I click No I get the page not found error. If I click yes I get the image.

I can't get the second page to work either...Author, have you tried using the anonymous FTP to get more images?

www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2004/0415gyre.html

The North Atlantic Current is also known as the sub-polar gyre and works in connection with the North Atlantic Oscillation. A key measurement is ocean height.

www.oceanweather.com...


[edit on 8-6-2004 by Jamuhn]

Just checked ftp and there hasn't been a good image in a week. And that image was generated on may 31st for may 10th info.

I have been working on global climate change and yes there is something very wrong with the ocean currents, not just in the atlantic either. If you have any questions or if I can be of any help please feel free to contact me. I am very happy to see people start to figure these things out. There are many within the science community who have been screaming about this but few seem to want to listen.

Good job

Gazz

[edit on 8-6-2004 by UM_Gazz]

Thanks for the link Jamuhn. What do you make of this?

www.oceanweather.com...

Am I missing it? The gulf stream does not seem to be visible on the maps.

Originally posted by Indy
Thanks for the link Jamuhn. What do you make of this?

www.oceanweather.com...

Am I missing it? The gulf stream does not seem to be visible on the maps.

It appears to be a map of wave height/direction - I don't think it's supposed to show under-sea currents.

That map (I believe) also shows the direction of flow and the north south flow in the middle north atlantic matches up with that hook feature in the SST chart.

Check out the North Atlantic region and compare it with this:



I by no means claim to be an expert, but the right side of greenland looks off

Actually both sides of greenland look off, anyone know about this???

Originally posted by Indy
That map (I believe) also shows the direction of flow and the north south flow in the middle north atlantic matches up with that hook feature in the SST chart.

I don't really know anything about this subject - but I believe that surface currents and under sea currents are different? and that the N. Atlantic current is under sea? Maybe someone can clarify this..

But if it is right, then I think that map only shows surface currents, in which case the N. Atlantic current would not show up.

I'm kinda grasping at straws here so if anyone who knows about these things can explain I would welcome it!

Apparently, it is an extension of the under sea current,
[url=http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/atlantic/north-atlantic-drift.html]http://oceancurrents.rsmas.miami.edu/atlantic/north-atlantic-drift.html[/ url]

Here is the latest SST. I cant find any visible evidence of the gulf stream. Can anyone see it? The stream should be evident in SST images.

You're also going to want to look at the North Atlantic and cross check it with normal sea temperatures during this time of year. There may be some archived information. I think that the current may just prevent freezing temperatures from reaching far south as well. It would be nice to see a scale that goes below 32F...

There was another topic on this subject and the user had posted an image for a 90 day period this spring. It was the SST anomaly map. (hope I spelled that right) and it was clearly obvious where the stream should be. It was the most negative area on the map. A long dark blue stripe where the stream should be. I'll see if I can find that post and put a link to it from here.