Re: New Medit List Members?

Rona,

I'm skeptical of that one. There is no similar area in the North Pacific that has large quantities of cold water sinking but we still have the Japan Current (warm)  and the California Current (cold), these are analogous to the Gulf Stream and Canary Currents (respectively). The is also a glaring failed analogy in the article if it's the one I read; they compared the Eastern U.S. with Northern Europe to show what winters could become like in Northern Europe, but the north central/eastern U.S. isn't so bitterly cold because the labrador current is so cold, it's because there is no large body of water to their west to moderate temperatures (weather systems generally travel from west to east in temperate zones in both hemispheres). If they had compared the Western U.S. and British Columbia with Europe they would have found very similar conditions, the  Pacific Ocean does not impact areas as far inland as the Atlantic does because the Rocky Mountains are a very effective barrier to the moderating effect of the Pacific (they are also a very effective barrier to artic air from the Eastern U.S.), there is no such barrier in Northern Europe.

Ryan Gyurkovitz
Coastal SoCal, U.S.A.

Rona Sadja wrote:
20021111135226.54581.qmail@web9501.mail.yahoo.com"> 
I've been hearing about the possibility that global
warming could actually trigger an ice age:

As I understand it, the melting of the polar ice caps
can reduce the salinity of the oceans, which may in
turn disrupt the Gulf Stream current, which brings
warmer weather from the tropics to the North Atlantic.
This change could be very rapid in the northeastern US
and Canada and Europe, causing winter temperatures to
drop 5-10 degrees C within a decade (!!) and last
several hundred years.

Hmm, think about the gardening possibilities this
could offer...tundra, anyone?

Rona

http://www.whoi.edu/home/about/whatsnew_abruptclimate.html
http://naturalscience.com/ns/cover/cover5.html


--- Bracey Tiede t*@pacbell.net wrote:
>From Reuters Science News:

Tropical Future for UK Gardeners as Climate Changes
Sat Nov 9, 8:45 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Green-fingered Britons could soon
be growing bananas and
avocados instead of lupins and rhododendrons as a
result of climate change,
according to leading horticulturists.

Long-term forecasts on climate change suggest
British gardeners could face
Mediterranean weather with hotter summers, droughts
and warm, wet winters with
the risk of flooding, the Sunday Times newspaper
reported.

Lush lawns, often the pride of suburban gardens,
will also come under threat,
according to a new report to be published this week
from the Royal Horticultural
Society (RHS) and the National Trust.

The report's author, Richard Bisgrove from Reading
University, said the climate
changes over the next 80 years could threaten some
native plants, but would also
give fresh opport
unities to gardeners.

"Southern England will become like Bordeaux...in
domestic gardens we will see
more exotic plants -- things like palms, olives and
peaches."

The report is based on trends set out in the
government's UK Climate Impacts
Programme.

Cheers,
Bracey
San Jose CA



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