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Climate Change and the global conveyor belt

Laura Henry. Climate Change and the global conveyor belt. What is the Global Conveyor Belt?. Thermohaline Temperature Salinity Deep-ocean current Downwelling Occurs at poles Upwelling Occurs at equator Continuous cycle. Climate and the Global Conveyor Belt.

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Climate Change and the global conveyor belt

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  1. Laura Henry Climate Change and the global conveyor belt

  2. What is the Global Conveyor Belt? • Thermohaline • Temperature • Salinity • Deep-ocean current • Downwelling • Occurs at poles • Upwelling • Occurs at equator • Continuous cycle

  3. Climate and the Global Conveyor Belt • Ocean water transfers sun’s energy • Regulates/normalizes Earth’s temperature • Begins in North Atlantic • Moves heat towards poles • Takes 1,000 years to complete

  4. Early Connections to Climate Change • Wallace Broecker, 1984 • Carbon levels in polar ice measured • Revealed patter of high carbon levels just before ice age • Rise in atmospheric temperature connected to glacial periods

  5. Later Research • Studies of forams from glacial periods • Forams found at intermediate ocean levels rather than in the deep sea • Forams lack O^16 molecules • Evidence that global warming is directly followed by ice age

  6. Global Warming’s affect on the belt • Melting of ice caps diluting salt water • Water in the poles becoming less dense • Disrupting the process of downwelling

  7. Global warming in the past • Henrich Events • Sheets of ice break off glaciers • Melt into Atlantic • Release ice-rafted debris • Dansgaard-Oescher Events (D-C) • Freshwater introduced into North Atlantic • Antarctic deep water released • CO2 transferred to atmosphere

  8. Implications of a conveyor belt shut-down • Tropic zones would experience severe heat waves • Moderate zones thrust into ice-age • Inhabitable areas cut down • Possibly no way to reverse a shut-down

  9. Too soon to know for sure • Not enough research to be certain • RAPID tests inconclusive • Nothing of this scale has occurred before • More scientific evidence in favor of a conveyor belt shut down than against it ???

  10. Sources http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/currents/06conveyor.html http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/oceanography/ocean-current3.htm http://northwestpassage.bangor.ac.uk/diary.php http://academic.emporia.edu/aberjame/student/tinsley1/webpage1.html http://montessorimuddle.org/tag/paleontology/ http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/coral-lab/faq/ http://scijinks.nasa.gov/atmosphere-formation http://www.webquest.hawaii.edu/kahihi/sciencedictionary/C/climatezone.php http://www.divediscover.whoi.edu/polar/impact.html http://www.esr.org/outreach/polar/what/what.html

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