Gulf Stream not cooperating
German researchers are clearly disappointed that a long-term ocean circulation and climate dynamics study of theirs has shown no slow-down of the Gulf Stream. Up until now, practically all climate models which have been projecting an oncoming climate catastrophe have based their predictions upon this taking place.
Many renowned scientists like Internet inventor Al Gore* have maintained that if enough cold, fresh water from the melting polar ice cap and melting glaciers of Greenland flows into the northern Atlantic, it will basically shut down the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe and North America warm. This will usher in a new mini-ice age (like the one that took place a few centuries ago?) which will disrupt worldwide weather patterns and lead to extremely harsh winters, droughts, desertification, crop failures, wars, electromagnetic interference, broken families, and higher rates of teenage pregnancy, obesity, tooth decay, and halitosis around the world. And it might even lead to a collision with Mars – which is now growing a polar ice cap, by the way.
“The measurements taken in the North Atlantic since 1996 show strong natural fluctuations,” said Professor Claus Böning of IFM-Geomar. “But a weakening of the Gulf Stream cannot be confirmed.” The scientists’ disappointing study will be released as quietly as humanly possible during a symposium which will be held in Kiel on Monday.
But I could have told you that the weather (climate) is a funny thing here in Germany (ha, ha). Without the study, I mean. I have always found it strange that a culture like Germany, so fascinated with the weather report (everything comes to a screeching halt here when the weatherman pops on the TV screen), has never noticed that the weather forecast for the following day is only correct half of the time at best. Write these forecasts down and compare them with reality for two weeks, if you don’t believe me. Yet not only does everyone keep believing the weatherman (acutally they have two), they are also perfectly prepared to believe the most bizarre climactic scenarios about what the weather is going to be like here in fifty years from now.
Morgen wird es regnen. Irgendwo.
Many renowned scientists like Internet inventor Al Gore* have maintained that if enough cold, fresh water from the melting polar ice cap and melting glaciers of Greenland flows into the northern Atlantic, it will basically shut down the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe and North America warm. This will usher in a new mini-ice age (like the one that took place a few centuries ago?) which will disrupt worldwide weather patterns and lead to extremely harsh winters, droughts, desertification, crop failures, wars, electromagnetic interference, broken families, and higher rates of teenage pregnancy, obesity, tooth decay, and halitosis around the world. And it might even lead to a collision with Mars – which is now growing a polar ice cap, by the way.
“The measurements taken in the North Atlantic since 1996 show strong natural fluctuations,” said Professor Claus Böning of IFM-Geomar. “But a weakening of the Gulf Stream cannot be confirmed.” The scientists’ disappointing study will be released as quietly as humanly possible during a symposium which will be held in Kiel on Monday.
But I could have told you that the weather (climate) is a funny thing here in Germany (ha, ha). Without the study, I mean. I have always found it strange that a culture like Germany, so fascinated with the weather report (everything comes to a screeching halt here when the weatherman pops on the TV screen), has never noticed that the weather forecast for the following day is only correct half of the time at best. Write these forecasts down and compare them with reality for two weeks, if you don’t believe me. Yet not only does everyone keep believing the weatherman (acutally they have two), they are also perfectly prepared to believe the most bizarre climactic scenarios about what the weather is going to be like here in fifty years from now.
Morgen wird es regnen. Irgendwo.
Kommentare auf Deutsch? Selbstverständlich.
* He actually just invented an important al-gore-rithm that makes it work.
What really happens is that the same westerlies driving the Gulf Stream also push ocean air onto the European land mass. The ocean is warmer than the land in winter, cooler in summer, and thus Europe rarely experiences the temperature extremes that the East Coast of the US sees. We just got another 8 inches of snow on Friday; it was shirtsleeve weather the previous week. (Comment this)