this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2023
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The Gulf Stream plays a significant role in maintaining the climate of the US East Coast and Western Europe. "We conclude with a high degree of confidence that Gulf Stream transport has indeed slowed by about 4% in the past 40 years." The full study is Here

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[–] [email protected] 154 points 11 months ago (13 children)

Everywhere I look everything is getting fucked to death. Insects, fish, entire ecosystems, entire climates, entire regions near the equator, all FUCKED.

Then my uncle says “how come it’s getting colder some places, I thought the globe was supposed to be warming! Hahahah”

At least he can arguably not give a fuck. He is rich and has no kids. I don’t get why the poors on the right side of the spectrum are so willing to parrot this idiotic bullshit though, don’t they realize their 600 even-poorer grandchildren are FUCKED?

[–] NewNewAccount 60 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They don’t care because either:
a) they’ll be dead
b) everything will be fine in heaven
c) both?

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago

don’t they realize their 600 even-poorer grandchildren are FUCKED?

No. The effort to make that unclear has been very successful.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

People with poor education are poor at spotting idiotic bullshit. Also there are other factors why people believe things. We aren't that rational.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 11 months ago

It jives with how they see Trump as a "Godly, Christian man." According to recent polls, they view him as more "Christian" than Mike fucking Pence.

I wonder if part of it is that belief begets belief? They believe in Trump because he believes so deeply in himself and they identify with that?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yes, but think of the profits.

Where are those profits going? Definitely not to you, that's for sure.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

But who'll think of the poor investors? /s

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[–] FatTony 42 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (14 children)

What will be the consequences to this?

[–] [email protected] 61 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Rise in sea levels on the east coast, reduced rain in the east coast, stronger storms, and more precipitation in Europe and the tropics. According to wiki.

I think it'll also make some areas cold as fuck and probably heat up the gulf.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 11 months ago

Western Europe will get pretty fucked without it, We're much further north than people realise. The Netherlands is further north than Calgary, Canada

[–] [email protected] 51 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The consequences are unpredictable. More extreme weather is about the only certainty.

The energy of the heat transfer will not just be missing in Europe. It'll also be in excess in the Caribbeans, perhaps creating stronger winds worldwide.

Imagine a house with water radiators, where you turn off the circulation pump while keeping the furnace on full blast. It's gotta go somewhere.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (5 children)

Read the article in my above comment. it could throw Europe into another ice age, and cause mass starvation. Not to mention the AMOC feeds plankton which is the basis for all of sea life food-webs and so the ripples of this could be very very vast.

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[–] [email protected] 32 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Britain and Iceland are utterly fucked.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The good news is that Iceland won't have to go around apologizing for its name anymore.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Greenland still will be inaccurate though, unless the Arctic decides to just melt.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Maybe the warming and freezing will cancel out and the much smaller islands that will be left after the sea levels rise will still be temperate and worth living on.

Edit: This is not an "I'm alright, Jack" comment. I'd rather this wasn't even a vague possibility and that the planet wasn't warming out of control.

[–] SheeEttin 5 points 11 months ago

Maybe the warming and freezing will cancel out and the much smaller islands that will be left after the sea levels rise will still be temperate and worth living on.

Maybe, but food and water will be extremely scarce. We can't all just up and move. You and I will almost certainly die of starvation.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

So's Norway - quite a few places on the west coast (the most inhabited non-Oslo part of the country) rely on the fact that the gulf stream keeps them unusually warm for their latitude

I'm already seeing things that would normally grow fine out in the garden suffer from abnormally late and early frosts and mild summers. Rip my tomatos and onions. Everyone's complaining about 20+ degree springs in the mainland while I'm screaming that it's still snowing in late May.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago

East coast of Canada and US will become arid. Caribbean will become hotter and storms will become more severe. Scotland, Ireland, Iceland, and Norway will be substantially colder (compare latitude of UK with Northern Canada) and with less precipitation. Basically, everywhere that relies on warm tropical moist air currents will drastically change.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Europe is at the latitude of Canada, it lacks Canada's climate gradient because of the Gulf stream

We 'bouta see Siberia stretch its way to the Elbe!

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[–] [email protected] 35 points 11 months ago

Robust Weakening of the Gulf Stream During the Past Four Decades Observed in the Florida Straits https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105170

Plain Language Summary

The Gulf Stream is a major ocean current located off the East Coast of the United States. It carries a tremendous amount of seawater and along with it heat, carbon, and other ocean constituents. Because of this, the Gulf Stream plays an important role in weather and climate, influencing phenomena as seemingly unrelated as sea level along coastal Florida and temperature and precipitation over continental Europe. Given how important this ocean current is to science and society, scientists have tried to determine whether the Gulf Stream has undergone significant changes under global warming, but so far, they have not reached a firm conclusion. Here we report our effort to synthesize available Gulf Stream observations from the Florida Straits near Miami, and to assess whether and how the Gulf Stream transport there has changed since 1982. We conclude with a high degree of confidence that Gulf Stream transport has indeed slowed by about 4% in the past 40 years, the first conclusive, unambiguous observational evidence that this ocean current has undergone significant change in the recent past. Future studies should try to identify the cause of this change.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I welcome the decrease in temperature, but it would be great if it weren't connected to the earth being irreparably fucked. One winter at -40 (C or F) and people will start moving south and I might actually be able to afford to buy a house.

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[–] sigh 17 points 11 months ago (4 children)

why doesn't the LAZY gulf stream just work harder??

[–] [email protected] 7 points 10 months ago

If it wanted to work harder, it wouldn't be going to Europe... 🤔

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

The Gulf stream is letting down our shareholders.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago

I was hoping the silver lining of climate change would be hotter weather here in Ireland. Shit.

[–] Hackerman_uwu 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

What’ll they do with all those jets they made then?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Fly them slower. Haven't hit stall speed yet.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 months ago

Oh well, we had a good innings there didn't we?

Still, I'm in my 40s now, so if it doesn't completely collapse for about 50 years or so I'm pretty sure I won't have to worry about it.

[–] FollyDolly 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Oh boy more droughts! Which will probably lead to massive forest fires. Fuck.

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