Atlantic Ocean Could Be Behind Global Warming’s ‘Hiatus’
Now, in a study published last week, scientists at the University of Washington and the Ocean University of China say this global warming “hiatus” is due to much of the atmospheric heat produced by global warming sinking into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.
The study says that in the year 2000, an Atlantic current that runs north from the tropics increased in speed, brining warm surface waters down to depths of 5,000 feet.
The warm tropical waters with high salt content reach the less salient waters of the North Atlantic, where they sink due to their greater density.
When the warm tropical salt water reached the less salient waters of the North Atlantic
“When [the water] sinks, it goes straight down, and the sinking carries heat along with it,” Ka-Kit Tung, a co-author of the study and adjunct professor of applied mathematics at the University of Washington told Scientific American.
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