I need to cite my Gulf Stream sources!

January 7, 2009 1:25 PM

I'm arguing with a conservative friend about global warming. Specifically, the idea that changes in the Gulf Stream have lead to Britain getting colder as a result of climate change. I don't know how valid this theory still is, but my question is: where can I find some scientific journal articles on the subject?
posted by teraspawn to science & nature (11 answers total)

Not a scientific journal article, but it's a start...Guardian
posted by jckll at 1:32 PM on January 7, 2009

Thanks, but I've already found that one :)
posted by teraspawn at 1:38 PM on January 7, 2009

Here's the Real Climate website take on it:
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2005/05/gulf-stream-slowdown/#more-159

They haven't found an abstract either.
posted by Wink Ricketts at 2:20 PM on January 7, 2009

This article is described here and here.
posted by Pants! at 2:23 PM on January 7, 2009

"The panic is based on a long held belief of the British, other Europeans, Americans and, indeed, much of the world's population that the northward heat transport by the Gulf Stream is the reason why western Europe enjoys a mild climate, much milder than, say, that of eastern North America. This idea was actually originated by an American military man, Matthew Fontaine Maury, in the mid nineteenth century and has stuck since despite the absence of proof.

We now know this is a myth, the climatological equivalent of an urban legend. In a detailed study published in the Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society in 2002, we demonstrated the limited role that ocean heat transport plays in determining regional climates around the Atlantic Ocean. A popular version of this story can be found here. "
posted by one_bean at 2:25 PM on January 7, 2009

(sorry... that should've linked here)
posted by one_bean at 2:26 PM on January 7, 2009

Try here - the Lamont Doherty Earth Institute (part of Columbia University) - the link is to their Division of Climate and Ocean Physics. Your conservative friend may be pre-disposed to deny the research but this is one of the foremost places in the world doing research on climate change.
posted by leslies at 3:34 PM on January 7, 2009

The US DoD put out a report (PDF) a few years back discussing the implications to national security of such a cooling. They seemed to take this quite seriously.
posted by Tullius at 5:22 PM on January 7, 2009

As a rule, I never cite recent weather fluctuations when seriously discussing global warming. You can never point to the weather and say this one thing caused it.

I believe a question worth considering is what are the chances and reprocussions of a thermohaline circulation shut down (there's your search term)? Looking myself, I honestly don't see much real evidence either supporting or dispelling this idea. But regardless, the fact that people are seriously sitting down to consider that our actions might inadvertently shut down one of the earth's basic functions is what scares me about global warming. I don't think it's worth fucking with something like that, just so we can all drive tanks.
posted by gueneverey at 7:34 PM on January 7, 2009

NASA and NOAA both have extensive info/links on their respective websites
posted by kenbennedy at 7:42 AM on January 8, 2009

Thank you, everyone :)
posted by teraspawn at 10:44 AM on January 8, 2009