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It’s Definitive – The Gulf Stream Is Weakening (www.iflscience.com)

submitted 2 years ago by tangentzeroee@lemm.ee to c/worldnews@lemmy.ml

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The Gulf Stream plays a significant role in maintaining the climate of the US East Coast and Western Europe. "We conclude with a high degree of confidence that Gulf Stream transport has indeed slowed by about 4% in the past 40 years." The full study is Here

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[-] FatTony@lemmy.world 38 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

What will be the consequences to this?

[-] popcap200@lemmy.ml 61 points 2 years ago

Rise in sea levels on the east coast, reduced rain in the east coast, stronger storms, and more precipitation in Europe and the tropics. According to wiki.

I think it'll also make some areas cold as fuck and probably heat up the gulf.

[-] EddoWagt@feddit.nl 47 points 2 years ago

Western Europe will get pretty fucked without it, We're much further north than people realise. The Netherlands is further north than Calgary, Canada

[-] bstix@feddit.dk 52 points 2 years ago

The consequences are unpredictable. More extreme weather is about the only certainty.

The energy of the heat transfer will not just be missing in Europe. It'll also be in excess in the Caribbeans, perhaps creating stronger winds worldwide.

Imagine a house with water radiators, where you turn off the circulation pump while keeping the furnace on full blast. It's gotta go somewhere.

[-] Mana@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 2 years ago

Read the article in my above comment. it could throw Europe into another ice age, and cause mass starvation. Not to mention the AMOC feeds plankton which is the basis for all of sea life food-webs and so the ripples of this could be very very vast.

[-] grayman@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Leonard Nimoy was right?!

[-] Mana@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 years ago

What did he say?

[-] grayman@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

https://youtu.be/NQSBn50o_8M

[-] Mana@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 2 years ago

Damn. I guess he was right! Its funny because that channel is filled with climate deniers.

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 1 points 2 years ago

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[-] bloopernova@programming.dev 33 points 2 years ago

Britain and Iceland are utterly fucked.

[-] Ertebolle@kbin.social 36 points 2 years ago

The good news is that Iceland won't have to go around apologizing for its name anymore.

[-] Gork@lemm.ee 11 points 2 years ago

Greenland still will be inaccurate though, unless the Arctic decides to just melt.

[-] TheSaus@lemmy.fmhy.net 1 points 2 years ago

At this point i would honestly just shrug it off, what else is new lol

[-] palordrolap@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Maybe the warming and freezing will cancel out and the much smaller islands that will be left after the sea levels rise will still be temperate and worth living on.

Edit: This is not an "I'm alright, Jack" comment. I'd rather this wasn't even a vague possibility and that the planet wasn't warming out of control.

[-] SheeEttin@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

Maybe the warming and freezing will cancel out and the much smaller islands that will be left after the sea levels rise will still be temperate and worth living on.

Maybe, but food and water will be extremely scarce. We can't all just up and move. You and I will almost certainly die of starvation.

[-] Squids@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

So's Norway - quite a few places on the west coast (the most inhabited non-Oslo part of the country) rely on the fact that the gulf stream keeps them unusually warm for their latitude

I'm already seeing things that would normally grow fine out in the garden suffer from abnormally late and early frosts and mild summers. Rip my tomatos and onions. Everyone's complaining about 20+ degree springs in the mainland while I'm screaming that it's still snowing in late May.

[-] bloopernova@programming.dev 2 points 2 years ago

Oof, I'm sorry to hear about your veggies :(

I hope it doesn't collapse, it would mean a lot of displaced people and loss of life.

[-] nbailey@lemmy.ca 26 points 2 years ago

East coast of Canada and US will become arid. Caribbean will become hotter and storms will become more severe. Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, and Norway will be substantially colder (compare latitude of UK with Northern Canada) and with less precipitation. Basically, everywhere that relies on warm tropical moist air currents will drastically change.