and this was the cause...
Posted on 08/11/2007 11:44:25 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Science Daily — More than a mile beneath the Atlantic's surface, roughly halfway between New York and Portugal, seawater rushing through the narrow gullies of an underwater mountain range much as winds gust between a city's tall buildings is generating one of the most turbulent areas ever observed in the deep ocean.
In fact, the turbulence packs an energy wallop equal to about five million watts -- comparable to output from a small nuclear reactor, according to a landmark study led by Florida State University researcher Louis St. Laurent and described in the August 9 edition of the journal Nature.
The study -- an international collaboration of scientists from the United States and France -- documents for the first time the turbulent conditions in an undersea mountain range known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. It provides never-before-seen evidence that deep water turbulence swirling in the small passageways of such mountains is generating much of the mixing of warm and cold waters in the Atlantic Ocean.
Better understanding of the mechanisms of mixing is crucial, says St. Laurent, an assistant professor of physical oceanography at FSU and the study's co-principal investigator, because mixing produces the overall balance of water temperatures that helps control the strength of the Gulf Stream -- the strong, warm ocean current that starts in the Gulf of Mexico, flows along the U.S. east coast to Canada and on to Europe, and plays a crucial climate role.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Does this mean we can use small nuclear reactors to alter the weather?
We lost the Scorpion submarine there, I think.......
Where to put undersea propellors and generators.
wow. there must be thousands of places like that on the ocean floor.
imagine satisfying the energy needs of everyone in the world for a relatively small investment.
Bass-o-matic?
What drives this powerful stream?
One explanation is the overflow haline current from the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is much warmer and more saline than the North Atlantic, and there is a continuous backflow out of the mouth of Gibraltar strait, much denser than the cooler surface water of the North Atlantic. This dense current spills like a waterfall down into the depths, where it displaces colder layers of less densely salinated water. A temperature inversion is created, with the WARM layer beneath the colder layer, and just as in atmospheric disturbances, this creates an instability, as the boundary layer of the colder, less saline water mixes with the warmer, more saline water. Now understand, this does not proceed very rapidly, but the volume involved, over a relatively wide area, adds up to a considerable amount of latent energy just waiting for an outlet. This energy is finally expended in driving a rapid current through the deepest canyons at mid-ocean.
There is a similar phenomenon found in the Eagle and Washoe valleys on the east slope of the Sierra Moutains between Nevada and California. Each afternoon, as the sun dips below the rim of the Sierras, an inrush of dense cooler air, known as the “Washoe winds”, flushes downslope into the now-shaded valleys, which are no longer being heated by the sun.
Now, if we could just hook up some turbines to take advantage of this predictable flow....
Can you spell Methane?
You know darn good and well that the environmentalists will never allow that. A sand flea or some other parasite might be harmed.
Relatively small being what? A guesstimate within several hundred billion will do.
Cool noogie... lets f _ _ k with it!
.larslarson.com mp3 onair interview of Climatologist Chuck Weiss
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Credit for the link goes to crazyshrink; On this thread:
Once again they are blaming the smoke for the fire.
one of the weather conditions that are often associated with serious smog episodes in some portions of the country . In a temperature inversion, air doesn’t rise because it is trapped near the ground by a layer of warmer air above it. Pollutants, especially smog and smog-forming chemicals, including volatile organic compounds, are trapped close to the ground. ...
Shades of “Day After Tomorrow”.
“a guesstimate within several hundred billion would do”
consider that there would be no fuel bills for generating electricity, forever. there would be no resulting pollution. the sun’s energy would be put to use deep in the ocean away from land masses.
perhaps billions of dollars initially, with the result that non-political, inexpensive energy would be abundant and available to the world. (if billions in investment results in trillions in results, that is a relatively small investment.)
Could this be found to be a NEW source of energy?
They're not talking about a source of energy, but dissipation of energy. The turbulence is generated by the disruption of a current flow, and degrades it into thermal energy represented by a very slight rise in temperature.
5MW is not that much. The heater in the pressure regulator of a Pressurized Water Reactor draws about a Megawatt.
thanks;>)
and this was the cause...
great photo! says lots.
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