Yes the Atlantic current is down to the danger level hence the fires.

a reply to: Phage

Yes it does.
Further more according to noaa, with a 25% decrease in all c02 emissions we would realize a .2 ppm decrease in co2.
In other words..A 100% reduction in emissions will do nothing.

a reply to: Mandroid7

Yes it does.

No. CO2 does not cool the atmosphere. Perhaps you're thinking about a study from some years ago that shows that CO2 in the thermosphere (Way, way up there. Space, actually.) responds to the effects of CMEs by cooling. Nothing to do with what we are talking about.

A 100% reduction in emissions will do nothing.

Not for a while. Because the CO2 that's there won't just magically disappear if we stopped producing it. Right now the best we can do is reduce the rate of warming. And even that is pretty hard to do. Too hard for those whose only concern is their wallet. Too hard for those who are short sighted.

a reply to: Phage

CO2 content is not temperature dependent

Really? I thought warmer water released more CO2 into the atmosphere.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: drewlander

Of course water vapor is a greenhouse gas. A powerful one. But the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere is dependent upon the temperature. The warmer it is, the more water vapor it can hold.

It's different with CO2. CO2 content is not temperature dependent. If the temperature rises or falls, it doesn't really matter much. As long as we keep burning coal and stuff like we are, the CO2 content will continue to rise.

So, as CO2 causes temperatures to increase, it also causes water vapor content to increase. This leads to things like heavier snow and rainfall when precipitation does occur. Oh, and still warmer temperatures (because more water vapor). Positive feedback is the term used.

 

A slowdown of the North Atlantic current could be a result of warming for two reasons. Something that keeps the current flowing is the fact that at its "apex", the cooled water begins to sink (because cool water is heavier that warm water) this enables warm water from the south to move in to take the cool water's place. Warmer water won't sink so much, slowing the current. But Greenland is also dumping a lot of fresh water into the North Atlantic (because of ice melt). Fresh water also does not want to sink.

No, it's not going to cause another glacial period. But it sure is going to disrupt climates even more, especially in Europe.

So true.
We are having unpresidented rainfall in the last 3 days that will continue for the next 5 days. Time to buy a boat I guess.
Everywhere is being flooded.

a reply to: musicismagic

Practically speaking if you have a warm spot south of Greenland with colder air all around it, it would one would think to cause a rising fog of very humid air. Like the fog banks of Nova Scotia. Originally the rising air from the current would have been spread over many longitudes and act normally or what we call normal, but this blocked area of exceptionally concentrated humidity, is carried along on the westerlies and drops its load along its latitude line, Britain and Germany recently copped a load. So logically the other areas that would get this averaging rainfall aren't getting the same amount because it's all dry air north of that warm spot. Hence forest degradation in Northern Europe. Buy at some stage if the top current has slowed then the bottom current must be equally impeded. which would have other effects, like perhaps leaving the arctic peninsular ice-free like it was the last time the current slowed?

a reply to: Flatcoat

The discussion was about CO2 in the atmosphere.

But yes, everything else being equal, warmer water can hold less CO2 than cooler water. However since the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing, everything else is not equal. Oceans are absorbing CO2, not releasing it.

a reply to: anonentity

Practically speaking if you have a warm spot south of Greenland with colder air all around it, it would one would think to cause a rising fog of very humid air.

Sea fog is formed when warm moist air moves over cool water. In Nova Scotia, San Francisco, and any place else. It is not caused by warm water.
www.weather.gov...

a reply to: Phage

But would not the warm spot cause warm moist air to flow over the colder air surrounding it.?

a reply to: anonentity

It's not really that "warm." You wouldn't want to go swimming in it. Less cold would be a better term.

But warmer air rises above cooler air, so no.

a reply to: Phage

Thanks for that.

a reply to: anonentity

Things that make you go hmmmmmmm...

Some time after it happened (11+ years ago), I distinctly remember reading a fairly authoritative sounding opinion piece somewhere, claiming that the massive Event (Deepwater) Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico - which they also claimed was far more massive than we were told, but the evidence was literally hidden by the huge amounts of toxic 'Corexit' they dumped in the Gulf to disperse the oil - purely to limit potential damages (Oil Companies are fined based on the size of the spill) - would eventually cause a major slowdown of the Gulf Current all the way up the East Coast.