<
https://e360.yale.edu/features/climate-change-ocean-circulation-collapse-antarctica>
"It is being hailed as a sea change in scientific understanding of the global
ocean circulation system and how it will respond as the world heats up. A
doomsday scenario involving the collapse of the circulation — previously
portrayed in both peer-reviewed research and the climate disaster movie
The
Day After Tomorrow — came a lot closer in the last month. But rather than
playing out in the far North Atlantic, as previously assumed, it now seems much
more likely at the opposite end of the planet.
A new analysis by Australian and American researchers, using new and more
detailed modeling of the oceans, predicts that the long-feared turn-off of the
circulation will likely occur in the Southern Ocean, as billions of tons of ice
melt on the land mass of Antarctica. And rather than being more than a century
away, as models predict for the North Atlantic, it could happen within the next
three decades.
Leading ocean and climate researchers not involved in the study who were
contacted for comment praised the findings. “This is a really important paper,”
says Stefan Rahmstorf, an oceanographer and head of earth system analysis at
the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany. “I think the
method and model are convincing.”
“It is the most original research I have seen for some time,” says British
polar researcher Andrew Shepherd of Northumbria University, Newcastle. “I was
genuinely surprised by this work, but they have convinced me. It is
agenda-setting. All the attention has been on the North Atlantic; but I expect
there will now be a shift in attention to the Southern Ocean.”"
Via Wayne Radinsky.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
