From: Editor, ENN, based on an article from eurekalert
Published May 15, 2009 02:00 PM
New Ocean Circulation Experiment has Potential Big
Climate Model Impact
New research by Duke University, in conjunction with the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution is casting doubt on long-held theories of North
Atlantic Ocean circulation patterns. This research, supported by the
National Science Foundation is important since oceanic circulation is one of
the key factors in current atmospheric circulation models, and therefore
critical starting points for climate modeling.
A 50-year-old model of ocean currents had shown this southbound subsurface
flow of cold water forming a continuous loop with the familiar northbound
flow of warm water on the surface, called the Gulf Stream.
"Everybody always thought this deep flow operated like a conveyor belt, but
what we are saying is that concept doesn't hold anymore," said Duke
oceanographer Susan Lozier. "So it's going to be more difficult to measure
these climate change signals in the deep ocean."
And since cold Labrador seawater is thought to influence and perhaps
moderate human-caused climate change, this finding may affect the work of
global warming forecasters.
"To learn more about how the cold deep waters spread, we will need to
make more measurements in the deep ocean interior, not just close to the
coast where we previously thought the cold water was confined," said Woods
Hole's Amy Bower.
Lozier, a professor of physical oceanography at Duke's Nicholas School of
the Environment and Bower, a senior scientist in the department of physical
oceanography at the Woods Hole Institution, are co-principal authors of a
report on the findings to be published in the May 14 issue of the research
journal Nature.
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