The research co-led by Drs. Christelle Not and Benoit Thibodeau from the Department of Earth Sciences and the Swire Institute of Marine Science, The University of Hong Kong, highlights a dramatic weakening of the circulation during the 20th century that is interpreted to be a direct consequence of global warming and associated melt of the Greenland Ice-Sheet. This is important for near-future climate as slower circulation in the North Atlantic can yield profound change on both the North American and European climate but also on the African and Asian summer monsoon rainfall. The findings were recently published in the prestigious journal Geophysical Research Letters.
[...] Interestingly, the research team also found a weak signal during a period called the Little Ice Age (a cold spell observed between about 1600 and 1850 AD). While not as pronounced as the 20th century trend, the signal might confirm that this period was also characterized by a weaker circulation in the North Atlantic, which implies a decrease in the transfer of heat toward Europe, contributing to the cold temperature of this period. However, more work is needed to validate this hypothesis.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2018-11/tuoh-oci112318.php
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 02 2018, @07:44PM
You've put your finger on one of the reasons that it is so important to colonize other rocks. That thin veneer of civilization is rather fragile. I don't know how fragile, but we do know that civilizations have risen and fallen in the past. Even within recorded history, we've seen them come and go. Archeology tells us that the same processes happened before recorded history.
There was all that crap about oil-maximum a few decades ago. I never put much stock in that, but it was and is a real consideration. But, the fall of our current civilization would almost certainly end any possibility of man leaving the earth. We need to get out there NOW, while the getting is good.
The Four Horsemen will ride the earth regardless. People will die, and sooner or later there will be another Dark Ages. But, NOW is the time to build colonies. There are no more urgent goals for mankind today. Getting off the earth, building multiple self-sufficient colonies, and building a few universities out there is the only real hope that the next Dark Ages doesn't kill us off. If we break our current civilization without accomplishing any of that, it will be a long, long, LONG time before anything "good" can happen for us.