Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The Day After Tomorrow in Tenerife
Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV). Image UNCThe Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 apocalyptic science-fiction film that depicts the catastrophic effects of global warming. The film was strongly criticized by scientists for its premise being physically impossible and "absurd".
Fast forward to 2008 and the news that the UK is to deploy a £16M "armada" of underwater robots from Florida to the Canary Islands to monitor the Gulf Stream for a possible collapse.
It seems to be straight from the film's plot line.
Without the Gulf Stream, the UK would be as cold as Canada
It may seem like fiction to you, if you're shivering in the UK right now, to learn that the Gulf Stream is the main reason why your islands are warmer than they might have been at the same latitude, but that part is true.
The same water, along with trade winds, are also the very reasons that the Canary Islands enjoy cooler, Spring-like, benign temperatures year round, than they might have experienced at this level of latitude too. Or at least they did, though we've certainly seen and felt some big changes in recent years.
And it's not just heating up that the Canary Islands might suffer, if the Gulf Stream were to be weakened, interrupted or diverted.
We were given to understand that the warming sea temperature / changing Gulf Stream is what was responsible for the Tropical Storm / Extratropical Cyclone / Hurricane Delta that already passed through here in 2005. Much suggests that the likelihood of such storms is increasing, so the whole scenario is probably not quite as fictional and "absurd" as the critics would like it be.
Nevertheless, it's unlikely to happen the day after tomorrow. The BBC say:
"A reduced gulf stream would mean that less heat is brought to north-west Europe and therefore harsher winters. However, current climate model predictions are confident that the increase in temperatures resulting from an increase in greenhouse gas emissions is much greater than the potential cooling effect, so a cooling of the UK climate is unlikely this century."
Ocean floor sensors will warn of failing Gulf Stream Via: Climate Ark & DVICE
