What's Going On in the Atlantic is Off the Charts
Another reminder that global warming has accelerated
Just another reminder that, at least for now, our climate is in very uncharted territory in the North Atlantic.
The AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) is part of the “rivers” of current inside the world’s oceans.
Red in the graphic below shows where the current is warm and near the surface. The blue shows water that’s colder and flows deeper beneath the surface. These currents rise and dip throughout their journey, depending on the temperature and salinity of the water they contain. (Greater salinity adds weight to water.)
The warm current that flows from the Caribbean to north of Scotland is also called the Gulf Stream. It’s why ships sailing east across the Atlantic move faster than those sailing west. Benjamin Franklin was an early student of this current as it related to travel. The Gulf Stream is also why England and Scotland — indeed, much of northern Europe — are warmer in winter than places like Montreal.
If the AMOC is disrupted, for example, by freshwater glacier melt from Greenland, the climate in northern Europe could change rather fast.
Again, a reminder.
I always thought that Jethro Tull's "Something's on the Move" — likely the only rock song about a glacier — was right in sensing humanity's vulnerability to climate, plus nature's tendency to avenge itself, but wrong as it turned out about the direction of temperature change. Now, with AMOC running amok, I'm not so sure, at least as far as Europe's concerned.
How are you sure that much of it isn’t heat being released underwater volcanic events? Do you have data indicating there is no contribution from internal heat being release due to plate tectonics?