Global Warming and Cold Weather

Photo Courtesy of GRID-Arendal

The recent heavy snow fall in the northeastern United States has given many people the idea that global warming must not be occurring. Hopefully I can get rid of that misconception. This picture is a diagram of the oceanic conveyor belt that brings the warm waters from the equator to the north where without these warm waters they would be sheets of ice. How this circulation works is that as the warm salt water cools in the north it sinks to the bottom of the ocean and travels southward. As it warms up it comes back toward the surface and makes its way back toward the north. This circulating current keeps the north from all turning to ice. If this circulation is slowed down or stopped it will produce increasingly cooler temperatures and if not corrected will throw the globe into another ice age. You may be asking how global warming plays into the situation? Well, glad you asked. The salinity and temperature are directly responsible for the global current. Saltier, colder water sinks creating the circulation, but with global warming the water in the north is getting warmer and with the ice caps melting it is becoming less salty. This change can cause a slow down or possibly even a total stop of this circulating pattern bringing about an ice age. So next time you look outside and see mountains of snow do not dismiss global warming.