Iceland Deems Possible Atlantic Current Collapse A Security Risk
- Reference: 0180058690
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/11/12/2339231/iceland-deems-possible-atlantic-current-collapse-a-security-risk
- Source link:
> The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, current brings warm water from the tropics northward toward the Arctic, and the flow of warm water helps keep Europe's winters mild. But as warming temperatures speed the thaw of Arctic ice and cause meltwater from Greenland's ice sheet to pour into the ocean, scientists warn the cold freshwater could disrupt the current's flow.
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> A potential collapse of AMOC could trigger a modern-day ice age, with winter temperatures across Northern Europe plummeting to new cold extremes, bringing far more snow and ice. The AMOC has collapsed in the past - notably before the last Ice Age that ended about 12,000 years ago. "It is a direct threat to our national resilience and security," Iceland Climate Minister Johann Pall Johannsson said by email. "(This) is the first time a specific climate-related phenomenon has been formally brought before the National Security Council as a potential existential threat."
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> Elevation of the issue means Iceland's ministries will be on alert and coordinating a response, Johannsson said. The government is assessing what further research and policies are needed, with work underway on a disaster preparedness policy. Risks being evaluated span a range of areas, from energy and food security to infrastructure and international transportation.
"Sea ice could affect marine transport; extreme weather could severely affect our capabilities to maintain any agriculture and fisheries, which are central to our economy and food systems," Johannsson said. "We cannot afford to wait for definitive, long-term research before acting."
[1] https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/iceland-sees-security-risk-existential-threat-atlantic-ocean-currents-possible-2025-11-12/
So Iceland is worried that it may become ... (Score:2)
... ice land? Am I getting this right? 8-)
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Seeing as how "is" means ice, yes it makes perfect sense? I mean it's not funny, but it totally makes sense.
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So you're telling me it depends on what the definition of "is" is?
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10% of Iceland is covered in glacial ice. It's Greenland that people usually think about when they imagine Iceland. Greenland is 80% covered in ice.
Indeed (Score:3)
Iceland, and the British Isles are going to be in a bad way if the gulf stream collapses. They are far enough north that reverting to weather more natural for that latitude will make it pretty darn chilly.
AGW will not necessarily make every place on earth warmer - it's way to complex a system for that. As an example, (in the British Isles) palm trees grow in a few places in Ireland. Pretty impressive for a place around the same latitude as Newfoundland. [1]https://www.smithsonianmag.com... [smithsonianmag.com]
So yeah, a gulf stream collapse would be a threat to Iceland's very existence. And not a whole lot they can do about it.
[1] https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/palm-trees-in-ireland-36548780/
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Don't worry, I'm sure the British public will be persuaded that AMOCexit will be a great idea.
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Palms also grow in Cornwall.
[1]https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/ph... [cornwalls.co.uk]
[1] https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/photos/palm-tree
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> Palms also grow in Cornwall.
> [1]https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/ph... [cornwalls.co.uk]
I did not know that! Here in the US, they are slowly moving upwards. In the Outer Banks we're getting them. I've seen a few on the New Jersey shore. I think those in New Jersey need protection when it gets its coldest there.
But they are all pretty far south compared to the British isles. Let's hope the Gulfstream doesn't collapse.
[1] https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/photos/palm-tree
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It would drastically affect most of Northern Europe, also the Eastern US. But Iceland would probably be the most seriously affected. Greenland might refreeze, I believe that the "little ice age" was responsible for the failure of the Norse Colony on the shores of Greenland.
Saving Private Iceland (Score:1)
China Deems Unprofessional Comments A Security Risk
How about some desalination plants (Score:2)
When desalination plants are built, I hear about the worry of the left over "brine" being too salty so they have to be careful about putting it back into the ocean. In this case, you pull out water a little easier, it would actually help to put saltier water back, so it sounds like a win-win to me. Yeah, the current is huge, so do lots of desalination plants for the volume and ship the water somewhere useful. ... All in theory, YMMV, asterisks apply, etc.
Science how does it work? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why can't scientists give us a straight answer on anything? Constantly revising things when new data is discovered and new models are created.
It would be simpler for me to understand if they would just write one book and never change it for thousands of years. I'd be inclined to worship that kind of book, assuming I can read.
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It's hard to know what to put in a science book that would not be revised in 1000 years. You can put any math theorem that has been verified by [1]Lean [wikipedia.org] which includes 95% of undergraduate math. Almost everything else is less certain. I guess that you can put in Newtonian mechanics with the caveat that it is very accurate only for objects with mass between 1 nanogram and one sextillion kilograms moving at less than 0.1% of the speed of light. You could put in many chemical reactions and the periodic table
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lean_(proof_assistant)
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The Little Ice Age was from 16th to the 19th centuries. The Maunder Minimum was a period around 1645 to 1715. See my references below.
So your dates do not line up. Stop spouting bullshit.
From [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]:
"The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region.[2] It was not a true ice age of global extent.[3] The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939.[4] The period has been conventiona
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Ice_Age
Little ice age in Europe started before Maunder (Score:2)
> The Little Ice Age was from 16th to the 19th centuries. The Maunder Minimum was a period around 1645 to 1715. See my references below. So your dates do not line up.
Too many people don't mentally convert the phrase "16th century" into "from 1501-1600".
In words that anonymous cowards might be able to understand:
The Little Ice Age started in the 1500s. The Maunder Minimum was a period around 1645 to 1715. So your dates do not line up.
Yes: the "little ice age" in Europe started before the Maunder minimum.
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Do you think it is interesting that the century during which an ice age was ending is the one used as a baseline for climate analysis?
I wonder if public sentiment would be different if the climate data was presented as "x number of degrees warmer since the end of the last ice age".