Research has just been published that shows alarming measured data which points to a slowing or stopping of the Gulf Stream. Read the article
Here. In short, Global Warming is reducing the formation of the icesheet in the North Atlantic. When ice forms, salt precipitates into the surrounding water. This heavier and very cold water sinks to the ocean floor and flows south at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. This starts a counter current of warmer water on the surface flowing North. This surface current is called the "Gulf Stream", and it is this current that keeps the Northern part of North America, and Northern Europe warm enough to prevent the formation of permanent glaciers. The article reports that 30 percent reductions in Atlantic Ocean circulation has been observed.
I first met Jim Hansen in the mid-1980's when he was, and still is, head of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies, located at Columbia University in NYC. He is NASA's premier scientist working on Global Warming from CO2 additions to the atmosphere. He was using NASA's Earth-observing satellites to measure solar heat gain and loss at the Earth's surface, and plugging that data into NASA's supercomputers to predict the effects of the data he was measuring. Jim was not popular with the senior management of NASA at that time because he was being very public about the dire consequences of what his data and simulations were showing.
His computer models predicted that the first measurable effects of Global Warming would be seen as an increase in average nightime winter temperatures, and that severe weather events would be more frequent and powerful. Empirically, we can all say that this is exactly what is happening, but there is also objective data to this end. The number of severe weather alerts issued by the National Weather Service, and number of weather-related weather disasters declared by FEMA have doubled over the last 5 years. Jim was clearly a man ahead of his time, and a prophet without honor in his own house.
One has to give the Devil his due, and I agree with George Bush's decision not to submit the Kyoto Treaty to the Senate for ratification. In his desire to get any treaty, Bill Clinton's negotiators gave away too much. The Europeans were allowed to use 1990 as the base year for reductions, and they came into immediate compliance by 1993, when all that obsolete East Germany manufacturing shut down. The Treaty also completely exempted China and India, as developing nations. Now, China is the second largest manufacturing nation in the World.
What I do not agree with is George Bush's continued "staying the course" to ignore the now very evident consequences of Global warming. He should have told the World "See, I'm serious about getting a good treaty, and if you want the United States, lets go back to the table and do a GOOD treaty." A good treaty would put restrictions on the Europeans, instead of the free ride the Kyoto Treaty gave them. It would also require that developing Nations use the best available technology as they modernize and increase their CO2 emissions. We cannot tell developing nations that they cannot become more prosperous. But, we can tell them that they can't let the multi-national companies use the cast-off manufacturing equipment of the developed World as they modernize. In short, we need leadership, not a President and Congress that have been bought by corporate interests.
I am the Democrat running in TX 10, against freshman Republican Mike McCaul, a Delay crony who has voted his way 95% of the time.Contribute