I saw a National Geographic documentary about two years ago that changed my way of thinking on this so called greenhouse gasses. There were two scientists working in very different areas of science, and if it had not been through a chance meeting the climate change would never have been made clearer.

One scientist was working in Greenland, he was boring holes deep into the ground, and he was extracting information about life before mankind as we know it. He was boring I believe some one hundred metres, and he found not just one ice age but many, and his theory was that parts of the earth were in for another, and possibly in the next ten to twenty years. To be precise the good old UK and I am happy to say for once the Europeans get what we get and that is cold.

Now the other scientist was an oceanographer, and he was doing tests in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. He found that the Gulf Stream was slowing down, and it was already slower by 30% than when records were first taken. There is a cycle that is called the conveyer belt, and when the warm waters reach Newfoundland the heavy salt water turns the current East. Then it turns and goes back south touching the western edge of Europe, and that helps to give Europe and especially the UK its warm weather. Due to heavy rainfall over the past ten to twenty years in northern Europe, a lot of fresh water has flowed north, and that has diluted the heavy salt content south of Newfoundland. This is causing a lot of the warm water to escape north and thus slowing the conveyer belt. If at all the conveyer belt stops North American weather will change, and so too will Europe’s weather. The UK is on the same Parallel as Canada and the Gulf of Alaska, it will not be an ice age as such, but you can believe it will be cold and Alaskan weather.


The Gulf Stream, together with its northern extension towards Europe, the North Atlantic Drift, is a powerful, warm, and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico, exits through the Strait of Florida, and follows the eastern coastlines of the United States and Newfoundland before crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The process of western intensification causes the Gulf Stream to be a northward accelerating current offshore the east coast of North America. At about 30°W, 40°N, it splits in two, with the northern stream crossing to northern Europe and the southern stream recirculating off West Africa. The Gulf Stream influences the climate of the east coast of North America from Florida to Newfoundland, and the west coast of Europe. Although there has been recent debate, there is consensus that the climate of Western Europe and Northern Europe is warmer than it would otherwise be; and that this is due to the North Atlantic drift, one of the branches from the tail of the Gulf Stream. It is part of the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre. Its presence has led to the development of strong cyclones of all types, both within the atmosphere and within the ocean. The Gulf Stream is also a significant potential source of renewable power generation.


To sum up is it due to mankind? Well I very much doubt it, and I think it is probably just another chapter in the Earths cycle. If it gets cold we will survive because man can create a warm environment, it is evolution and you cannot stop that, we are not dinosaurs. There are too many natural releases of gasses and smoke emissions for the Earth to compete with. Remember if both sides of the Atlantic are frozen then there will be hardly any fresh water diluting the south of Newfoundland, the Gulf Stream starts flowing again, and just like it did thousands of years ago. Job done and it will be another climate change, and no doubt by then someone will be complaining that the ice is melting. FULL CIRCLE.

Regards ian