North Atlantic Current

The North Atlantic Current is a warm ocean current that extended north-east the Gulf Stream to Europe. It is driven by the thermohaline circulation.

Due to its heat transport of the North Atlantic current acts like a big heating, thanks to which large parts of western and northern Europe, such as Ireland, the UK and Scandinavia, have a warmer climate than would be expected due to its high latitude.

Course

The Gulf Stream off the coast of Newfoundland meets together with the cold Labrador Current and unites with this partially. He branches out and forms branches from. This extension of the Gulf Stream to Europe, the North Atlantic Current, even though this is often also referred to in some representations as Gulf Stream.

North of Ireland, is a part of the North Atlantic Current as Norwegian current up to Spitsbergen away, another part is drifting towards Iceland.

Thermohaline circulation

During the Gulf Stream is driven by winds and continental waste, the engine of the North Atlantic Current is the global conveyor belt or the " thermohaline circulation ". On the way to the northern end of the North Atlantic Current evaporate parts of the transported warm water ( evaporation). Wherein the salt content is increased ( salinity ), whereby the water is heavier and starts to decrease. There is the North Atlantic drift part of the North Atlantic Deep Water, a southward ocean current.

Effect

The North Atlantic Current has a significant influence on the European climate, which is why he is often referred to as " hot water heating system in Europe". Due to its warm water, the air is heated above the sea. The winds then transport the heat until well into the European continent into it, creating in Europe a much milder climate than prevails in other regions of the same latitude. North of the 50th parallel of rules, for example, in Canada a very cold climate, in which only grow mosses and lichens, and only cold-resistant animals live as caribou in this tundra. In contrast, brought the North Atlantic Current Central Europe deciduous forests and lush meadows, good conditions for agriculture and animal husbandry, and the most noticeable on North Atlantic Current areas it causes a special opportunity:

In Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly specifically on self plants that are native only to much warmer climates otherwise grow. Palm trees can survive there otherwise hard Northern winter. Logan Botanic Garden in Scotland, for example, benefit greatly from the North Atlantic Current: Individual copies of the mammoth sheet ( Gunnera manicata ) have grown over 3 feet tall.

Changes due to global warming

In connection with the current phenomenon of global warming, scientists have expressed concern that the Absinkmechanismus described above under thermohaline circulation could come from the balance in the next 20-100 years.

Growing amounts of meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet could weaken the North Atlantic Current, because the density of water is reduced by the freshwater input, and the water mixture no longer drops deep. The result would be a weakening and possibly shift the North Atlantic Current, which would have a change of climate in northern Europe resulted with significant consequences. Without global warming to a maximum reduction of average temperature in Europe increased by 5 degrees Celsius would set that would counteract the expected global warming in Europe. Whether or from when the two effects would cancel each other out, is not predictable; is conceivable that the temperatures in Europe initially rise easily and would then fall permanently by up to 5 degrees below the current levels.

Findings from sediment and ice cores suggest that similar events have taken place in the past several times. These are known as Henry events.

Prior to around 2005, some reports appeared claiming that they had to measure a sharp decline of the North Atlantic current. This claim proved to be untenable because of the North Atlantic current relatively strong short-term fluctuations; individual measurements were in line with short-term fluctuations and therefore could not be traced back to developments. Rather, it was clear by the detailed examination of the North Atlantic Current to 2007, that it has no signs of weakening. According to a study published in early 2008, it has come as a result of the warming since the last Ice Age to an intensification of the oceanic circulation; the study makes the case that further warming of the middle layers of the atmosphere in the wake of global warming will lead to a further strengthening of the ocean currents.

In 2011, a study on the Agulhas Current in the Indian Ocean has been published. Thus, it is not fully reflected on the east coast of Africa, but flows to a small part in the Atlantic Ocean off. This could have a greater effect in the climate in the northern hemisphere than previously assumed and therefore, the following also published on the IPCC model concepts to global warming turn out to be wrong: It is believed that weakened in the future by the freshwater entry through increased melting in the polar region of the northern hemisphere of the North Atlantic Current and the warming of the northern hemisphere would be slowed by the reduced heat input. If the salt water entry from the Agulhas Current - as has been observed over the last decades - continues to increase, this would also strengthen the North Atlantic current, and thus lead to additional heating instead of cooling.

Research

During the Cold War, both former superpowers (USA and USSR) spent a lot of money and effort on exploring the lake and sea breeze and sea weather. These satellites were launched into geostationary orbits or into lower orbits, for example:

Thermal imagers on board provide images of the surface temperature of the sea water. Satellite radar can measure the height of the sea surface ( which varies by tides, storms, etc.) and their ripple.