And yet more holes to be poked in the Al Gore and 99%% of friends being
100%% wrong about more than just the warmest year on record:
Strong Evidence Points to Earth's Proximity to Sun as Ice Age Trigger
When do ice ages begin? In June, of course.
Analysis of Antarctic ice cores led by Kenji Kawamura, a visiting
scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, shows
that the last four great ice age cycles began when Earth's distance from
the sun during its annual orbit became great enough to prevent
summertime melts of glacial ice. The absence of those melts allowed
buildups of the ice over periods of time that would become characterized
as glacial periods.
Results of the study appear in the Aug. 23 edition of the journal Nature.
http://www.geologytimes.com/Research/Strong_Evidence_Points_to_Earths_Proximity_...
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Saltier North Atlantic should give currents a boost
The surface waters of the North Atlantic are getting saltier, suggests a
new study of records spanning over 50 years. And this might actually be
good news for the effects of climate change on global ocean currents in
the short-term, say the study's researchers.
This is because saltier waters in the upper levels of the North Atlantic
ocean may mean that the global ocean conveyor belt – the vital piece of
planetary plumbing which some scientists fear may slow down because of
global warming – will remain stable.
The global ocean conveyor belt is the crucial circulation of ocean
waters around the Earth. It helps drive the Gulf Stream and keeps Europe
warm. The density of waters which drives the flow of ocean currents is
dependent on temperature and salinity, so any change in saltiness may
have an impact.
Tim Boyer of the US National Oceanographic Data Center and colleagues
compiled salinity data gathered by fisheries, navy and research ships
travelling across the North Atlantic between 1955 and 2006. They found
that during this time, the layer of water that makes up the top 400
metres has gradually become saltier.
http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn12528-saltier-north-atlantic-should...
Mr. 101
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