ë Layers of salty ocean water mix with layers of
fresher water, creating a salty staircase or layering driven by small-scale
convection known as salt fingers. Although scientists have known about salt
fingers since 1960, when they were discovered at the Woods Hole Oceanographic
Institution, they have not understood their role in ocean mixing and the
ability of the ocean to absorb heat, carbon dioxide and pollutants from the
atmosphere.
... Salt fingers form because heat and
salt diffuse at vastly different rates, hence the term double diffusion. ...
In the ocean, density increases with depth, and in combination with gravity,
makes for a generally stable stratification that is difficult to mix
vertically. The large-scale circulation system requires that significant
vertical mixing occur somewhere in the ocean, but this mixing has been
difficult to find and measure. Since oceanic mixing occurs on very small
scales, from less than an inch, and on rapid time scales of
a few seconds, and climate models only resolve space and time
in scales of tens of miles to hours and days, it is a challenge for scientists
to resolve ocean mixing rates and improve the climate models. û
- This is very odd
to those of us more used to discussions of atmosphereic mixing and
convective cells which span the troposphere.
ë Scientists have concluded more energy is being
absorbed from the sun than is emitted back to space, throwing the Earth's
energy "out of balance" and warming the globe. û
ë Hansen's team, reporting Thursday in the journal
Science, said they also determined that global temperatures will rise 1 degree
Fahrenheit this century even if greenhouse gases are capped tomorrow.û
Abstract: ë Our climate model, driven mainly by increasing human-made
greenhousegases and aerosols among other forcings, calculates that
Earthis now absorbing 0.85 ñ 0.15 W/m2 more energy from
theSun than it is emitting to space. This imbalance is
confirmedby precise measurements of increasing ocean heat content
overthe past 10 years. Implications include: (i) expectation
ofadditional global warming of about 0.6ðC without furtherchange of atmospheric composition; (ii) confirmation of theclimate system's lag in responding to forcings, implying theneed for anticipatory actions to avoid any specified level ofclimate change; and (iii) likelihood of acceleration of icesheet disintegration and sea level rise.û
- Is this the "Smoking gun" for global warming? One NASA Climatologist says
so. This is a model that is making
testable statements about reallity today, so this is a step
forward.
