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The deep oceans drive the atmosphere
JoNova ^ | June 12th, 2010 | William Kininmonth Guest post

Posted on 06/11/2010 11:07:22 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach

Ever wondered how the whole planet could suddenly “get warmer” during an El Nino, and then suddenly cool again? William Kininmonth has the answer. As I read his words I’m picturing a major pool of stored “coldness” (bear with me, I know cold is just a lack of heat) which is periodically unleashed on the surface temperatures. The vast deep ocean abyss is filled with salty and near freezing water.  In years where this colder pool is kept in place we have El Ninos, and on years when the colder water rises and mixes up near the surface we have La Ninas. The satellites recording temperatures at the surface of the ocean are picking up the warmth (or lack of) on this top-most layer. That’s why it can be bitterly cold for land thermometers but at the same time the satellites are recording a higher world average temperature, due to the massive area of the Pacific.

In other words, just as you’d expect, the actual temperature of the whole planetary mass is not rising and falling within months, instead, at times the oceans swallow the heat on the surface and give up some “coldness”. At other times, the cold stays buried deep down and the heat can collect and loll about on the surface.

William Kininmonth was chief of Australia’s National Climate Centre at the Bureau of Meteorology from 1986 to 1998. Below, he describes how a vast pool of cold water filled the deep ocean abyss over 30 million years, and why this water and the currents that shift it have a major impact our climate. The so-called Bottom Layer is not just pockets or pools, it forms around Antarctica, then sinks and flows along the bottom all the way across the equator and into the Northern Hemisphere. Bear in mind the average depth of the ocean is around 4 kilometers, and yet almost all the water below a depth of 1000 m is around 4°C  or colder. The Antarctic Bottom Water itself is close to 0°C. The equivalent heat energy of the entire atmosphere is stored in just the top few meters of water. It gives us all some perspective on the relative importance of different factors affecting the climate. His thoughts are in response to the latest debate essay from Dr Andrew Glikson, so the figures 1 and 2 come from that article.

Kininmonth points out that small changes in the rate of the Thermohaline Circulation (also known as the Ocean’s Conveyor Belt)  makes a huge difference to all corners of the globe, and that the climate models make large assumptions about the flow of energy. Since the cold bottom layer was created by a kind of “Antarctic Refridgerator” (set into play by the circumpolar current) this colossal cold pool of water will presumably hang around until the continents shift. That’s quite a few election cycles.

Jo

Guest post by William Kininmonth

The deep cold abyss

IMAGE: Deep Ocean Abyss with cold bottom water

The deep ocean abyss forms as cold salty water sinks from Antarctica

Of particular interest to me was the second panel of his Figure 1(see below). It shows that the temperature of the deep ocean fell from 12°C  to 0°C ,  but without explanation.  Bob Foster has spoken of this regularly – the opening of Drake Passage and the isolation of the Antarctic continent from the warmer tropical surface temperatures by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. This means that winter sea ice forms around the Antarctic coastline, and expels salt into the surrounding sea water which increases the salinity and density of the near freezing water under the sea ice. There is only one way for that cold saline water to go and that is down to form Bottom Water.

************************************This is an EXCERPT*******************************

See :

JoNova Website -- This article


TOPICS: Science; Weather
KEYWORDS: climatechange; globalwarminghoax
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To: All; steelyourfaith; Tolerance Sucks Rocks; SunkenCiv; Paul Pierett; neverdem; I got the rope; ...
Reading list ping.

Trying to nail the coffin shut... of the AGW crowd.

Apologize for the multiple pings if you received them...

21 posted on 08/22/2010 11:13:11 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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To: FrankR; The Comedian; centurion316; Larry Lucido; potlatch
Reading list ping.

Trying to nail the coffin shut... of the AGW crowd.

Apologize for the multiple pings if you received them...

22 posted on 08/22/2010 11:29:46 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach ( Support Geert Wilders)
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Thanks for the ping!


23 posted on 08/22/2010 3:15:54 PM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Ernest_at_the_Beach

Ernest, thank you for all your pings. I have not been following news lately but it’s always nice to hear from a friend!


24 posted on 08/23/2010 3:55:41 PM PDT by potlatch
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