Draft 1 Shutting Off North Atlantic Deep Water Formation

This topic submitted by Kris Gerdeman ( gerdemankris@mailcity.com ) on 4/6/00 .


Ocean currents play a significant role in global climate, yet this role is not fully understood. It has been theorized that the formation of deep water can be an indicator of climate stability or climate shift. Currently the majority of deep water is formed in the far Southern Oceans and the North Atlantic. I plan to create a senario in which the North Atlantic deep water formaiton would be stopped. A variety of factors could be responsible for such an event such as the melting of a large iceberg in the region, a significant shift in the flux of terrestrial freshwater runoff, or a change in the oceans currents. I will try to estimate what the magnitude of these events would have to be to stop the formaiton of the North Atlantic Deep Water formation. Calculaiotns involving densities of fresh and sea water as well as calculations regaurding rates of deep water formation and terrestrial runoff will be the basis of my data. These calculaitons could prove to be valuable in prdicting future events that may threaten the North Atlantic Deep Water.


Literarture:
http//earth.agu.org/revgeophys/
http//www.essc.psu.edu/~bjhaupt/posters/icp6-msz.all/icp6m5z.html
http//www2.ocean.washington.edu/oc540/lec00-29/
http//www.gfdl.gov/~kd/KDwebpages/H2OTHC.html
http//co2science.org/journal/1999/v2n24cl.html

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