Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

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Flow of Deep Water South from Greenland More ‘Diffuse’ than Previously Thought

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WE live on one planet and all its oceans are connected with meridional overturning circulation (MOC) facilitating the mixing of waters across the globe.    

In the apocalyptic movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ the melting of the polar icecaps disrupts a component of this system, the North Atlantic current, and so North America freezes over with US citizens pouring into Mexico to escape the freezing conditions.

New findings, published late last week in the journal Nature don’t dispute MOC, but suggest that the southern flow of deep water from Greenland may not follow as neat a path as assumed – including by the scientist in the Hollywood blockbuster.   In particular rather than the deep water moving as a conveyor belt – yes that is the term that had been used to describe the flow of water southwards – it may be more diffuse. 

One of the authors of the new paper in Nature, Amy Bower, has described it as “A swath in the wide-open, turbulent interior of the North Atlantic” rather than a conveyor belt.

In the media release accompanying the publication of the findings, another author Susan Lozier, suggests this means it is going to be more difficult to measure climate signals in the deep ocean.

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Climate Change in Mississippi

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INSTEAD of rising temperatures, the annual average temperature in Mississippi has declined over the past century. Instead of an increasing frequency of drought, the state’s moisture conditions have improved over the long run. Instead of failing crops, the state’s agricultural yields have been increasing. Natural cycles in the regional climate can largely explain changes in patterns of hurricane activity.  

These are some of the findings in a new report entitled ‘Observed Climate Change and Negligible Global Effects of Greenhouse-gas Emission Limits in the State of Mississippi’ recently published by the Science and Public Policy Institute.

[Read more…] about Climate Change in Mississippi

‘Jellyfish’ Sequest Carbon

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Swarming by millions in ‘hot spots’ and also dying by millions like salps, Pyrosoma atlanticum may be transporting tons of carbon per year from the ocean surface to the deep sea.  Read more here.

Defining the Greens (Part 10)

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MANY of the world’s great doctrines claim that man’s moral duty is to serve others. Environmentalists, on the other hand, might claim that it is to live in harmony with nature. The Greens are perhaps a bit different. They might claim that in order to live in harmony with nature we need to first change society and in particular our attitude to the consumption of the earth’s finite resources. In short Greens might suggest that in order to save the earth, we need to first change our values.

According to my Oxford dictionary values are principles or standards of behaviour – one’s judgement of what is important in life. Some argue that if you take nothing seriously, it means that you have no values. But where do these values come from and what in particular does a Green value?

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Orwellian

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WITH the rise of big government convinced that belief in a climate crisis will be good for us, it is perhaps pertinent to remember George Orwell and his novel ‘1984’.   The term ‘Orwellian’, his idea that wellbeing is crushed by restrictive, authoritarian and untruthful government, has its origin here.   Read more.