Gulf Stream To Shut Down | Green Energy News

December 29, 2002 – Vol.7 No.40

GULF STREAM TO SHUT DOWN?

What would happen if enough melt water from Greenland’s glaciers and Arctic Ocean flowed into the North Atlantic to push the Gulf Stream farther south or shut it down altogether? Despite generally warming temperatures worldwide because of global warming, much of the U.S. would be 5 degrees colder and the Northeastern U.S., parts of Canada, and virtually all of Europe as much as 10 degrees colder in the winter. Winters would be horrific, bone chilling and economically devastating.

Could this happen any time soon? Climate experts have long thought that global warming could cause the shift or cessation of the Gulf Stream, but not until at least 2100 - enough time to tackle the climate change problem or for people and economies to adjust to its consequences. But some scientists now believe that the Gulf Stream has shut down or shifted before, and the change in direction or stoppage was abrupt, taking as little as 3-10 years. Scientists also think that it could take hundreds of years to correct itself.

Some of those scientists are working at the prestigious Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. Formed in 1930, the Institute is considered one of the world’s foremost research organizations. They’re one of the best, if not THE best in the business of understanding the oceans of our planet.

And if this could happen, how soon? Woods Hole is concerned. A pool of relatively fresh water - the kind of water that could eventually disrupt the Gulf Stream - has increased in the last seven years and has spread as far south as the Carolinas in the U.S. Woods Hole and other institutions are watching the situation closely. Unfortunately if a problem is developing there’s nothing people can do about it other than learn - very quickly - to adapt. Visit the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute at http://www.whoi.edu/ (click General Info, What’s New)