NO, not ridiculous. The cold deep currents and the upper warm currents have a definite effect on weather patterns. During the last ice age they know that the warm currents were diverted further south which affected the weather and rain patterns worldwide. That along with the slight difference in the earth’s angle to the sun caused dramatic cooling effects in the northern hemisphere. It’s not global warming, just a recurring earth cycle.
Yes, it is ridiculous. There is a perfectly valid control study for the effect of a collapse of the thermohaline circulation: the Pacific Northwest. (I’d also suggest Patagonia and New Zealand, but the researchers I’ve read didn’t, so maybe there’s something I don’t know about affecting circulation there.)
>>During the last ice age they know that the warm currents were diverted further south which affected the weather and rain patterns worldwide. <<
Yes, but that’s not the same as causing the ice age. What it actually did is make the Middle East more fertile, for one.
>> That along with the slight difference in the earth’s angle to the sun caused dramatic cooling effects in the northern hemisphere. <<
That certainly is why the ice age was “lopsided” to the North, but doesn’t explain its occurence in the first place. The truth is that we don’t even know whether ice ages are caused by solar, orbital or planetary variations. One researcher noted that the Earth tends to have ice age cycles when there’s a continent over one pole, but couldn’t explain why that would cause an ice age, or why the ice ages came in cycles.
>> It’s not global warming, just a recurring earth cycle. <<
Actually, it’s a lot of nothing. It’s 0.7 degrees over an entire century. The question is whether its indicative of a growing trend, or whether its a little tiny blurp.