Gulf Stream's Secret Is A Load Of Hot Air

New Scientist ^ | 3-12-2008 | Catherine Brahic

[blam]

Gulf Stream's secret is a load of hot air

18:21 12 March 2008
NewScientist.com news service
Catherine Brahic

A wall of warm air rises up from the Gulf Stream, shown here as it moves along the North American coastline (Image: F Araki and S Kawahara, ESC JAMSTEC)

It could be the end of preparing for a balmy European summer only to be met with rain and freezing temperatures. After years of mystery surrounding the Gulf Stream, researchers have finally worked out how it affects European weather. The key, they say, is a corridor of warm air that rises up from the Gulf Stream into the atmosphere.

Shoshiro Minobe of Hokkaido University in Japan describes the North Atlantic warm current – which is famous for bringing tropical waters to European shores – as a poorly understood "black box".

"It is widely accepted that its heat transport is important for the climate, especially for warm climate in Europe," he explains. "However, it is not known how the Gulf Stream actually influences the atmosphere."

Minobe and colleagues now say they have identified the key influence – a corridor of warm air that rises from the Gulf Stream up to 11 kilometres above the ocean's surface.

This altitude is where planetary waves, also known as "Rossby waves", are triggered by rising warm air. These waves cause changes in the atmosphere over thousands of kilometres via high-altitude westerly winds.

"The waves are efficiently excited by deep [high-altitude] heating of the atmosphere, but not by shallow [low-altitude] heating because, near the surface, the westerly wind jet is weak and friction is strong," says Shan-Ping Xie of the University of Hawaii, US, who collaborated with Minobe.

'Better forecasting'

Together with colleagues, Minobe and Xie used high-resolution satellite data gathered by NASA to show that

[Diggity]

I could have told em that. Gee. How else?

John

[patriciaruth]

Didn’t realize the warmed air rose that high. Interesting.

[southernerwithanattitude]

Bushes fault?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Well, how do you like them apples? The ocean moderates temperatures along the coast. Who ever would have guessed?

[Seruzawa]

Oh I see. Scientists don’t know how the Gulf Stream works.

But they can predict what the weather will be in 20 years. (eyes rolling).

Each day I rediscover just how little the self-professed experts really know.

[Dog Gone]

I’m baffled by this. Even a layman would know this to be true.

They might not know how high into the atmosphere this effect could be measured, but who doesn’t know that the Gulf Stream keeps Europe warm or that the Japanese Curent keeps the Californian coast cool?

[rawcatslyentist]

>"The ocean moderates temperatures along the coast."

And somehow miraculously little peoples SUVs heat the ocean! Go figure!

[PLMerite]

Oh. I thought this was going to be about Al Gore’s private aircraft.

[Wuli]

not the main driver of balmy winters on the western shores of europe

the western shores of europe have balmy winters for the same reason that the western shores of north america (oregon, washington, western b.c. and southerh aluets) have similar balmy winters (warmer than their interior neighbors at the same latitude)

the west-to-east airflows across the two great northern land masses are altered by the mid-continental mountain ranges - rockies in north america, urals in europe

the affect of that altering results in the delivery of more air - to the northwestern shores - from more southerly latitudes than from latitudes directly west (than from siberia or from northern canada)

yet, the political scientists of the scientific world are still working on the gw alarmism on the potential shutdown of the gulf stream