What will happen if the oceans currents are detrimentally impacted by global warming?

Question

Considering the fact that ocean warming has already exceeded one mile in depth...what could happen to the various currents around the world, specifically the gulf stream, which is the life blood of north atlantic fisheries?

Answer 1

This is a dangerous question to answer, because even most sophisticated scientific prediction models can't tell exactly what will happen. But for what I've been reading about it is that when the Greenland land ice starts melting above a certain amount, this mixing of fresh water could slow down or even stop the Gulf stream completely. This could have quite an impact on all ocean streams, because they are all in some way dependent on each other. I personally don't think they will stop because the earth will keep turning with the same speed in the same direction and ocean streams and moving air masses (wind), are mainly driven by the rotation of the earth. What will happen exactly to all ocean stream behavior has still been to complex to simulate for what I heard about it, but as the Gulf stream is a great conveyor belt for heat from the equator to the northern hemisphere, to the US and Europe, this lack of heat could invoke a ice-age in those areas. If this will happen (the Gulf stream has been proven to have slowed down already more then even predicted before by scientists), it could be temporary, but they still don't know if this will actually happen. What they are pretty sure about is that the melting of the ice on the borders of Greenland, will produce more evaporation of water, hence more snow in the middle of Greenland, so the ice-cap in the middle could even temporarily grow when it's melting on the edges.
If you are interested in the fish in the oceans, over-fishing is a much bigger problem than global warming, because many important species of fish will be eaten and gone for ever in a few decades.
I never thought about or heard of any consequences from the Gulf stream changing for plankton and other important life forms in the oceans, but global warming is already destroying many coral reefs, and they are the nursery rooms of the oceans, for food, and the evolution of new species. One day they will be back, but humanity will maybe not even be around anymore to enjoy it in a sophisticated way.

Answer 2

That's one of the remaining uncertainties.

It's not just the heat. Melting ice could alter salinity and disrupt currents. Europe is particularly vulnerable since ocean currents keep it warm and are absolutely crucial to their agriculture,

Answer 3

The fisheries are through no matter what. The first biggest issue will be the UK will become uninhabitable.

Answer 4

depends on what you consider a detrimental impact

i saw a news story posted on yahoo that said global warming will result in severe storms (floods, hurricanes, etc.) that will kill millions of people. it is claimed that CO2 is a "greenhouse gas" that contributes to global warming. now if there are millions of fewer people exhaling CO2, problem solved, no?

Answer 5

We all starve.
Have a nice day!