chicot60
03-30-2011, 01:08 PM
Nunatsiaq News
More fresh water is pouring into the Arctic Ocean as glaciers melt.
The fresh water content of the upper layer of the Arctic Ocean has increased by about 20 per cent since the 1990s, say scientists from Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute.
They predict this increase may alter the world's ocean currents, with potentially disastrous results.
This fresh water from melting glaciers that pours into the upper layer of the Arctic Ocean is likely to flow out into the North Atlantic. There, it may impact global ocean circulation and disrupt the flow of the Gulf Stream, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute.
If that happens, places such as Greenland, Iceland, Norway and parts of Europe, which are warmed by this powerful ocean current, could actually cool off.
The fresh water on top of the Arctic Ocean is important because this surface water controls the amount of heat that escapes. Like a blanket, fresh water usually lies on top of the deeper salty and warm ocean layers and cuts off their heat flow to the ice and atmosphere.
Read more:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Fresh+water+from+glaciers+worries+experts/4525262/story.html#ixzz1I5W3yj9r
More fresh water is pouring into the Arctic Ocean as glaciers melt.
The fresh water content of the upper layer of the Arctic Ocean has increased by about 20 per cent since the 1990s, say scientists from Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute.
They predict this increase may alter the world's ocean currents, with potentially disastrous results.
This fresh water from melting glaciers that pours into the upper layer of the Arctic Ocean is likely to flow out into the North Atlantic. There, it may impact global ocean circulation and disrupt the flow of the Gulf Stream, say researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute.
If that happens, places such as Greenland, Iceland, Norway and parts of Europe, which are warmed by this powerful ocean current, could actually cool off.
The fresh water on top of the Arctic Ocean is important because this surface water controls the amount of heat that escapes. Like a blanket, fresh water usually lies on top of the deeper salty and warm ocean layers and cuts off their heat flow to the ice and atmosphere.
Read more:
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/Fresh+water+from+glaciers+worries+experts/4525262/story.html#ixzz1I5W3yj9r