Seemingly miniscule changes – Massive affects
The gulf stream is a powerful force in the Atlantic Ocean that has great effects on the surrounding four continents. The gulf stream brings warm water from Africa westward eventually following the east coast of America and then reaching as far as the Norwegian Sea where it meets colder and more dense water due to the salinity levels. But now from extensive research there has been a formation of a cold pocket of water off the coast of Greenland due to ice melt. Now that we have a little back story into the Gulf stream, we will dive deeper into why we should care about this arising issue.
This cold pocket is a massive cause for concern as it is disrupting the delicate balance of the gulf stream that effects four continent’s weather; among other things. We are facing this global issue due to climate change and the increase of fresh water ice melt. Due to this ice melt and further disruption of the Gulf Stream we could see even faster sea level rise from continents that meet the Atlantic coast, stronger hurricanes in the southwest region of the united states, and even possibly reduced rainfall in the already arid span of land in central Africa which is already seeing the effects of climate change.
I hope with this information I can address the Disengaged, Doubtful or even Dismissive audience when it comes to climate change. As I have stated earlier, we are seeing the effects already but currently we can only speak in hypotheticals because we have yet to be met with the disastrous effects in our present day. I do believe we are met with sceptics regarding climate change as it can be an overwhelming and bipartisan issue in our current political climate. But from analyzing our past we can see what kind of effects we might be looking forward to if we do not address climate change as a serious issue.
Our concerns stem from our understanding of our prehistoric climate record and how we can apply it to this issue. In our Earth’s past we were once met with our gulf stream weakening and/or shut down. This triggered rapid changes in temperature and rainfall in the north Atlantic and over regions. When the gulf stream weakened in the past, we saw a 15 degree Celsius drop in temperature in many parts of Europe. This change also created regions that were more much dry which occurred in a matter of decades. This time period about 13,000 years ago was in fact known as the little ice age.
In order to address the climate deniers, the doubtful and the dismissive we can look at this issue as the poster child for climate change. If we do not act soon enough the preverbal climate switch will be shut off and we could be ushering in a new age of a present-day ice age. Two relatively new studies support the long-term weakening we might be facing. A paper wrote by Christopher Piecuch of the woods hole oceanographic institution on the Florida current was able to depict the Florida current over the last 110 years even though data has only been available since 1982. He was able to deduce the current has weakened more rapidly in the last 20 years than ever before. In another study by researchers of Peking University and Ohio State University they were able to pull data from outside the north Atlantic to depict the weakening of the Gulf stream creates more evaporation in the sub-tropical region further increasing salinity levels.
Even with data that we were able to collect off the coast of Florida and prehistoric climate records this issue can still be hard one to visualize. But you might be surprised to know this is not the first time this issue has been depicted in media. Hollywood once displayed The Gulf stream weakening effects in a movie called “The Day after Tomorrow”. This 2004 film depicted a climate scientist trying to address this issue but being largely ignored even by counterparts in the UN. In the movie we were too late to act globally and saw superstorms and erratic weather in regions that have not seen that sudden of weather shifts. Yes, this movie might have been overdramatized but if you take if for what it is I believe it got its point across. Currently we have an issue that climate scientists are trying to address but they are still ignored or dismissed for what is seen as alarmist behavior.
My call to action to you the reader is to at least consider our past data, our current data/concerns and where we might be headed if we do not address climate change in a serious way. We can see from the previous little ice age and the dramatized movie “The Day after Tomorrow” that the weakening of the Gulf stream would have disastrous effects the modern human race has not seen before. We cannot afford to deny and act too late. When the metaphorical light switch is switched off there could be no turning back for our future.
And in the chance you have not seen “The Day After Tomorrow” here is a link for the trailer in case you are interested in watching this movie now that you have read this piece.
