Okay, so if the ice caps and the glaciers melt, they will fall in the ocean. The water in the ocean will elevate, thus causing the Global "Conveyor Belt:" to get flipped. Wouldn't this cause another ice age?
2007-06-30 08:47:01 · 4 answers · asked by pretty_kitty1698 2 in Environment ➔ Global Warming
It's not clear what effect global warming will have on the Gulf Stream. One reason it might shut down is because cold meltwater running off from Greenland and the Arctic Ice Cap could interupt the normal flow of the Gulf Stream - quite how this might happen requires a bit of guesswork.
Cold water is more dense (heavier) than warm water so the cold meltwater would flow UNDER the Gulf Stream but... the meltwater is also freshwater which is less dense than salt water so it would flow OVER the Gulf Stream. No one can accurately predict which will happen.
If the Gulf Stream were to shut down it would only have a cooling effect in certain areas - namely parts of Greenland and parts of north western Europe (France, the UK, Iceland, Ireland).
The effects wouldn't be enough to trigger another ice age.
The Gulf Stream doesn't actually generate heat it just move it around, there will still be the same amount of heat in the oceans but it will be in different places. Whilst some places will cool down others will warm up.
If you want more information the term to look up in a search engine is 'Thermohaline Circulation'.
2007-06-30 13:03:07 · answer #1 · answered by Trevor 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No, because the Conveyor affects local climates, not the Earth. Europe's agriculture would have some problems due to localized cooling, but the Earth's temperature won't change as a whole.
2007-06-30 15:57:52 · answer #2 · answered by Bob 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
yes their will be another ice age .the level of water will increase therefore the coastal areas will be drowned .their will be the huge loss in countries in coastal countries like INDIA CHINA. regular floods will be thier
(2)their will loss of flora & fauna
(3) agriculture will changed due to climate . some countries will grow lot of food & some less
(4 )peguins in polar region will harshly affected
(5) due to this their will decrease in land percentage . all will droend in water
2007-06-30 16:19:08 · answer #3 · answered by ankur 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
what's the difference? If we continue to ignore that there is a problem, and bury our heads in the sand, we'll either freeze our XXXX off or drown!
The end result, is that if we don't start to recycle,get rid of particulates in our air, and at least try to reverse some of this stuff , like the dinosaur, we too will go!
2007-06-30 16:23:06 · answer #4 · answered by jaded 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋