Mysterious Changes in Ocean Salt Spur NASA Expedition

Mysterious Changes in Ocean Salt Spur NASA Expedition

weather.aol.com

While researchers think global climate change may be behind the changes in ocean salinity, changes like these are expected to have their own implications for climate. This is because ocean salinity also affects ocean circulation, and as a result, ocean temperatures, which have implications for weather.

Here's how it works: Compared with fresh water, salty water is heavier, and so more prone to sinking. Temperature has a similar effect, with warmth causing water to rise. Differences in salinity and temperature drive a slow-moving conveyor belt of ocean currents that encircles the planet. Th

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Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
The Gulf Stream (stopping/slowing) WILL NOT cause the UK/Europe to enter a new Ice Age

Although everyone knows that seawater is salty, few know that even small variations in Sea Surface Salinity can have dramatic effects on ocean circulation. The cycling of water and energy through the atmosphere and oceans is crucial, but the ties among the water cycle, ocean circulation, and climate are poorly understood so let’s hope they figure this one out quick.

weather.aol.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

S&F
I went to post this myself when I read this news, but you beat me to it

This is worrisome indeed. When the salinity changes, like what is happening to the Oceans Conveyer Belt, the Greenland Ice is melting fresh water faster which like the article suggests; can alter the climate.

Continued operation of the oceanic conveyor belt is important to northern Europe's moderate climate because of northward transport of heat in the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Current. The system can weaken or shut down entirely if the North Atlantic surface-water salinity somehow drops too low to allow the formation of deep-ocean water masses. This apparently happened during the Little Ice Age (about 1400 to 1850 AD). The conveyer system shut down and northern Europe's climate became markedly colder.

source

We just never realize how important the oceans salinity is and how it impacts the people on the earth.I hope this thread gets more attention! It is great science.

For FRACK's sake why is this even questioned?

Oops the answers in my opening comment.

reply to post by meticulous


Dear Meticulous, ATS Readers, Writers,

S&F for you..read this at work last night...

A lot of the weirdness is attributed to the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico..IMHO

Them spraying all that oil down with Corexit, wound up shutting down the Gulf Loop Current.. not sure if it is STILL a nonfunctional current..

It used to exit a good amount of warm water south of Florida, that JOINED the Gulf Stream, and helped keep the UK region from having horrid winters..

As you might remember, the last few winters in the UK have been abnormally HARSH for them..me thinks this Gulf Loop Current is still DEAD..or severely ILL..

Not sure if the above has ANYTHING at all to do with oddly out of norms for salinity readings...

I am waiting for the global warmers to start blaming it on too many people... Recent studies showed the ice was melting from below.. my thoughts are this is due to increased volcanism worldwide.

We know how all the dang volcanoes, all over the world have been doing their thing a lot more..My thoughts are the underwater volcanoes are doing the same increase in activity.. and heating the oceans a lot faster, like a thousand burners on high.. boiling the water.

Another thing is one might think chemtrails.. and/or just a large increase in airborn dust, due to increased drought conditions; settling out on ice sheets, getting wet, becoming a dark spot on the ice, absorbing more heat, and melting ice that much faster.

Another point to make here on all the weirdness going on, is the SUN, SOL..

It has been acting goofy for a while, extended minimum.. 500,000 mile rip in the corona going on now..not seen before I think...

And all the other planets ARE experiencing a drastic warming trend, especially MARS.. so if they are being WARMED UP, the Earth is certainly being affected in the SAME MANNER, Right?

INcreased melting, rapid influx of fresh water, stalled and slower currents in the hot zones, creating a higher salintity due to surface evaporation..??? These two being much further aprt in densities would RESIST mixing MORE than two fluids of closer saline density as well...RIGHT?? LOL (Worked all night..shouldnt be thinking so hard.. make mistakes that way)

You also have the infamous they mucking with the weather too.. climatic blowback one might say, eh?

Pravdaseeker

I think its more electrical in nature, why there are spots that are really really salty.

Freshwater doesn't conduct electricity as well as salt water. I bet the saltier areas have a thinner crust beneath the ocean and are conduits for electrical energy from the Van Allen Belt..to the molten core.

reply to post by meticulous


Me thinks that any MECHANIC out there, or any folk owning a car would agree, that OIL goes INTO an engine and taking it out is detrimental to any future goings on with the business end.
Fossil fuels may be out dated but where is the expiry date for the most important engine we will ever encounter?

Do we have any idea how much we have already taken?



labspace.open.ac.uk...

-is a map of our worlds rigs.

pubs.usgs.gov...

-is a map of our seismic tendancies.

Of course this is just MY speculation.

Next to lead and CFC's (unfortunately both invented by the same bloke) Not finding an alternative fuel source is probably the worst thing we've accomplished.
Not to say that we are not trying to be creative, I just beleive the movement for 'green' is around 50 years behind its 'useful' commencement.

An increase in seismic activity can disrupt the flow and ebb of our currents (our fav engine's "timing belt") leaving horrific deposits in some areas and depriving others of much needed nutrients.

Yoi!

NASA?
Why? Those idiots haven't given a straight answer about anything in 50 years, they are the most over funded, least accountable agency in the history of the universe. Within two weeks they will go before congress with a proposal for funding to do more studies, followed by a plan to build 30 billion dollars worth of satellites by 2014, followed by contracts with the usual band of government contract parasites.
Want to know what's happening, FOR FREE?
1. "Global Warming" is increasing due to orbital and gravitational anomalies in the Sun-Earth-Moon system.
2. The Greenland ice sheet melted in four days, that ice entered the ocean and froze around the land mass, this indicates the normal "mixing effect" is malfunctioning. Below the ocean surface, unseen, a delicate ecosystem is heading toward critical mass.
3. NASA doesn't do "water" so why are they investigating problems below the surface of the ocean? Is it possible this is part of a bigger problem they have already been tasked with?
Either they know and aren't telling us, or they don't know and aren't telling us, in either case they have not earned the peoples trust.

reply to post by PowerDown


"Me thinks that any MECHANIC out there, or any folk owning a car would agree, that OIL goes INTO an engine and taking it out is detrimental to any future goings on with the business end.
Fossil fuels may be out dated but where is the expiry date for the most important engine we will ever encounter?
Do we have any idea how much we have already taken? "

The good news?
We are all about to replenish the supply with our carcasses.

reply to post by Trublbrwing

What "straight answers" are you looking for exactly?

NASA is well suited for Earth studies and has been engaged with them for a while now.

The study this month is being done to help corellate data from the Aquarius satellite (which was launched last year) with detailed on site data.


earthobservatory.nasa.gov...

Of course, there's no point in researching anything about the way our world works, is there?

1. "Global Warming" is increasing due to orbital and gravitational anomalies in the Sun-Earth-Moon system.

Really? What anomalies would those be and how they affect climate?

2. The Greenland ice sheet melted in four days, that ice entered the ocean and froze around the land mass, this indicates the normal "mixing effect" is malfunctioning.

No. A large area of the surface of the Greenland ice sheet experienced some melting over a very short period of time. It also refroze when the high pressure area which warmed the area dissipated.

3. NASA doesn't do "water" so why are they investigating problems below the surface of the ocean?

NASA does Earth sciences.

Either they know and aren't telling us, or they don't know and aren't telling us, in either case they have not earned the peoples trust.

Um. They are telling us they don't know. They are telling us they are trying to learn more.

As meltwaters from retreating glaciers and tundra enter the ocean due to global warming, it's bound to change it's salinity. The speculation has long been that this change would have a rather dire impact on the ocean's "conveyor belt", resulting in changes in our climate.

So, How many years have they been measuring this salinity from the oceans? 20, 50, 100, 200, 1000, 3000, 5000, 10.000, 25.000 , 45,000 years? When was the last major climate change/Ice Age? 30.000 years ago?

Unless we have better evidence there is Nothing to get alarmed about. They haven't studied this long enough to have corroborating evidence. The ozone hole expands and contracts naturally over many years. This may be the same thing. All they have now are guesses - not even theories supported by observation - because they haven't observed the saline levels in the ocean long enough. You need to observe for many thousands of years for that. Obviously we haven't had the technology to measure salinity globally for centuries let alone for thousands of years.

reply to post by JohnPhoenix

Unless we have better evidence there is Nothing to get alarmed about.

No more so than with any other indicators of a changing climate and what those changes may mean.

This may be the same thing. All they have now are guesses - not even theories supported by observation - because they haven't observed the saline levels in the ocean long enough. You need to observe for many thousands of years for that.

So the research is completely pointless?

Water masses formed under regions of excess evaporation over precipitation have become saltier and those formed under regions of excess precipitation have become fresher. This implies that, to first order, salinity changes are due to a strengthening of the global hydrological cycle. As a result, interbasin contrasts have been enhanced as well as contrasts between existing water masses.

iopscience.iop.org...

reply to post by meticulous

The huge/enormous regions of ocean water filled with PLASTIC GOO might have something to do with this, perhaps? Over the last 50 years (the timeline stated in the arti.cle) we humans have dumped so much plastic into the oceans that has been broken-down into tiny particles that have formed into vast regions of plastic "goo." Surely these regions (some the size of Texas or bigger) have affected evaporation and salt content. Who knows what else has been affected since fish/whales end up consuming this unnatural content. Why should this bother you? Because the food chain has been affected and you are eating plastic that has made its way into the fish you eat. Mix this with oil and corexit dispersent from the Gulf of Mexico which has already made its way into other bodies of water... and essentially when you eat fish, you're eating a chemical/petroleum stew.

If there is such a thing as GAIA (a living Earth, perhaps even sentient) then she is surely wounded and upset.

Originally posted by Trublbrwing
NASA?
Why? Those idiots haven't given a straight answer about anything in 50 years, they are the most over funded, least accountable agency in the history of the universe. Within two weeks they will go before congress with a proposal for funding to do more studies, followed by a plan to build 30 billion dollars worth of satellites by 2014, followed by contracts with the usual band of government contract parasites.
Want to know what's happening, FOR FREE?
1. "Global Warming" is increasing due to orbital and gravitational anomalies in the Sun-Earth-Moon system.
2. The Greenland ice sheet melted in four days, that ice entered the ocean and froze around the land mass, this indicates the normal "mixing effect" is malfunctioning. Below the ocean surface, unseen, a delicate ecosystem is heading toward critical mass.
3. NASA doesn't do "water" so why are they investigating problems below the surface of the ocean? Is it possible this is part of a bigger problem they have already been tasked with?
Either they know and aren't telling us, or they don't know and aren't telling us, in either case they have not earned the peoples trust.

Those Idiots?
NASA knows more about the environment and geology of Earth than just about any other scientific establishment. They use this knowledge to understand the processes of other planets in the Solar system, that they study relentlessly and also know more about than ANY other scientific establishment.

To call them Idiots is such an irresponsible statement, that I think you should put your credentials up here to see how they measure up to to any kind of background you would find in a NASA scientist.

reply to post by Trublbrwing


Scary isn't it? And to think I was just wrapping my head around the fact that in my life, I've lived in a house with asbestos in the roof, lead in the paint, immunisation in schools, aliminium in the pots n pans AND of course mercury in the fish...

Grandad, what on on earth were you guys thinking?

reply to post by Phage


I didn't say the research was pointless. I said there is nothing to get alarmed about based on the info we do have. People in this thread are reaching conclusions that this is a forerunner of the next ice age, and i believe those claims are as of yet, unfounded.

reply to post by Trublbrwing

The good news?
We are all about to replenish the supply with our carcasses.

Futures in Fossil Fuels, eh? I hope they burn my poly-chains in an oil lamp to stay warm and see by.

So I wondered what all the pollution from mining, nuclear reactors, shipping, Big oil, jet traffic and what not would do to our environment and I realized I haven't any idea. I do know this. Anyone who has kept fish in aquariums, most notably salt water aquariums knows how easy it is for some toxin to seep in and kill everything in your tank.

Just the tiniest amount of oil, couple drops per gallon, can wreak havoc. So I looked and found this article for fish stock farmers to heed in case of pollution by oil. Comparing it to the gulf oil spill.

Seems we need to stop the leak (completely).
Then remove all fish (whoops).
Then boom all the oil (well, most of it).
Then use dispersants... check (now all the fish are dead/removed)
Then drain the tank completely (drain the gulf?)
Clean the empty tank thoroughly with more chemicals...
Rinse with deionized water...
Refill the gulf and restock. Simple, right?

Saltwater Tanks

Drain the saltwater tank completely. The chemicals used to break up the oil will render the saltwater unusable for industrial purposes or for fish stock. Clean the tank throughly with water and detergent several times, washing it out with deionized water.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Trublbrwing

 

What "straight answers" are you looking for exactly?

NASA is well suited for Earth studies and has been engaged with them for a while now.

The study this month is being done to help corellate data from the Aquarius satellite (which was launched last year) with detailed on site data.


earthobservatory.nasa.gov...

Of course, there's no point in researching anything about the way our world works, is there?

1. "Global Warming" is increasing due to orbital and gravitational anomalies in the Sun-Earth-Moon system.

Really? What anomalies would those be and how they affect climate?
These Anomalies......
www.citg.tudelft.nl...
www.igcp565.org...
(from 2009, first paragraph explains gravity, sub system link)

2. The Greenland ice sheet melted in four days, that ice entered the ocean and froze around the land mass, this indicates the normal "mixing effect" is malfunctioning.

No. A large area of the surface of the Greenland ice sheet experienced some melting over a very short period of time. It also refroze when the high pressure area which warmed the area dissipated.
SOME Melting?
thinkprogress.org...

3. NASA doesn't do "water" so why are they investigating problems below the surface of the ocean?

NASA does Earth sciences.
They do it poorly.