Thermohaline circulation was a great flash from the past. Very cold water that is very salty sinking from the poles and starting the great ocean current conveyor. The cold dense water moves very slow and can take over 1600 years to complete the circulation with only the last tenth being in the warm surface current.
This type of convection cell fuels many systems on our planet, including our weather, fueled by the large amounts of warm moist air rising near the equator and cooler air sinking around 30 degrees north. Until writing this blog I thought warm air had the ability to "hold" more water vapor than cold air, In the search for the truth I found this: Water Vapor Myths and this: Bad Clouds you decide.... I will spend more time on this later.
Expand and Explore
As I explore Ocean temperatures I am amazed at my findings. The surface temperatures below are from today Nov. 9, 2010. My class just studied Hurricanes and Typhoons where surface temp. to build a good storm must exceed 81 degrees F, plenty of opportunity out there.....
The average ocean temp. from "Save the Sea" stated 39 degrees F or 2 degrees C. That didn't make sense to me until I thought about the oceans being so deep (average depth is 12,200 ft.)
The video from TD about Warmer Oceans Affect Food Web attributes the decline in some sea animals to declines in forage fish species such as herring and sand lance. These declines are partially attributed to warming oceans and the effects may be just beginning. According to the Ocean Facts on SavetheSea.org 3.5 billion people depend on the ocean for their primary source of food. And this number is suppose to grow rapidly!
The indigenous people of Alaska have already noticed a huge decline in the availability of food from the sea and waters here in Alaska. As the ocean warms, pollution increases, over harvesting continues and more people become dependant on the Oceans for their food, something has to give.
Unfortunately it will most likely be the people who need the ocean to survive who will be hurt the most. Around the world, impoverished people with little or no political voice and no corporate connections will have to make do with what is left after the major ocean harvesting corporations are done making a profit.
My wife's family lives in the fishing port of Roxas City, Philippines and have felt first hand the effects of declining fish populations that once sustained their entire existence.
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