Susan Lozier at TED asks 'Is Climate Change Slowing Down the Ocean?'

I told my readers "Stay tuned for a more evergreen post tomorrow." That's today, so I'm sharing Is Climate Change Slowing Down the Ocean? | Susan Lozier | TED.

Ocean waters are constantly on the move, traveling far distances in complex currents that regulate Earth's climate and weather patterns. How might climate change impact this critical system? Oceanographer Susan Lozier dives into the data, which suggests that ocean overturning is slowing down as waters gradually warm — and takes us on board the international effort to track these changes and set us on the right course while we still have time.

Countdown is TED's global initiative to accelerate solutions to the climate crisis. The goal: to build a better future by cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030, in the race to a zero-carbon world. Get involved at https://countdown.ted.com/sign-up

For my response, I'm reusing my comments from PBS Terra asks 'Is Earth's Largest Heat Transfer Really Shutting Down?'

This is not a new concern, as Al Gore described it in "An Inconvenient Truth." I asked about it specifically in the worksheet I used in one of my classes, which I reproduced in Hot (not): a cold blast from the past along with an answer.

What is the likely effect of the melting of the Greenland ice cap on ocean circulation and global climate?

In the movie, the idea is that the release of meltwater from a large glacial lake diluted the Gulf Stream, causing the water to become less dense and unable to sink to the bottom of the ocean off Greenland, jamming up the global thermohaline circulation and sending the planet back into an ice age for another thousand years. An analogous melt of water from the Greenland icecap, which is beginning to happen, would do much the same thing, slowing ocean circulation and cooling Europe. Both of those are indeed taking place.

The movie came out seventeen years ago and I wrote the above more than ten years ago. It's not as if we weren't warned.

Speaking of which, PBS Terra listed the Greenland ice sheet and the AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation) last September in PBS Terra asks 'What Will Earth Look Like When These 6 Tipping Points Hit?' I'm reusing my reaction from that post as well.

Watching all that reminds me that none of these threats are new, so my reaction isn't either.

First, welcome to the 400 ppm world. Second, are you scared enough by climate change? My readers should be.

Hey, I'm an environmentalist; I recycle.

I'll see if I can resume my awards show coverage tomorrow or if it's easier to stick to reality. Stay tuned to find out.

Even that outro works for today.

The outro works for today, too, although I've already decided to post this year's version of Marching music for the Michigan, Washington, Mississippi, and Democrats Abroad primaries focusing on my adopted home state of Michigan, which has the date all to itself, thanks to Democrats rearranging the dates of their primaries and caucuses to make them more representative. I guess that counts as reality through my idiosyncratic lens. Now off to select the videos to watch and listen to while waiting for the results!