So here we are on November 23rd and there's a big honking hole in the Chukchi Sea ice pack to 74N

[hatrack]

Go figure . . .

http://www.natice.noaa.gov/pub/west_arctic/Chukchi_Sea/2007/currentcolor.pdf

[donsu]

1. I'm wondering when the Gulf Stream will stop moving

last yr. they said it had slowed down by 60%. all that melting fresh water is slowing the Stream in the north atlantic.

nobody knows what will happen when it stops.

[Systematic Chaos]

2. Actually, I think the explanation given in "Under a Green Sky" sounds about right.

The conveyor will stop only temporarily, then shift itself into the mid latitudes. Once this happens, the influx of warm water to the bottom of the ocean will cause the vast majority of ocean life - followed shortly after by land life - to go extinct. This would be the process that turns our oceans into a Canfield Ocean; an oxygen-free ocean which belches billions of tons of hydrogen sulfide into the air and has a feet-thick skin of nasty algae floating on the top like Jello with an attitude.

Doesn't that sound like fun? :(