New information is leading to a controversial shift in thinking on the
impact of global warming on ocean circulation, partly due to the work of a UA
researcher.
The scientific community has long believed that as global warming continues
and large amounts of freshwater ice melt into the ocean, the ocean's circulation
will slow.
This would have a catastrophic impact on the environment as vividly, if
somewhat overdramatically, portrayed in the film "The Day After Tomorrow."
But a paper published last week in Nature magazine, the result of several
studies of past and possible future weather, says that in fact the very opposite
is true and ocean circulation will become stronger as the icecaps melt.
"We missed what was right in front of our eyes," said Joellen
Russell, an assistant professor of geosciences at the
University of Arizona and co-author of the paper.
