02-12-2010, 04:28 PM
I don't know that it is happening yet, but there is evidence that in eons past the Gulf Stream, which carries heat from the equator up to the arctic, has stopped. When it has stopped, the arctic has gotten really, really cold, frozen over completely, and started a new ice age. The reasons that the Gulf Stream might stop include that warming of the earth releases inconceivably large quantities of fresh water into the arctic ocean where, being less dense that seawater, it DOESN'T sink and thereby the worldwide circulation stops. Don't worry, it always starts up again after a few thousand years.
I have never read anything about the equator getting similarly hot but it only stands to reason. The tropics would get really, really hot. Again, only temporarily. The massive white icecaps would soon (10,000 years) tip the balance back again.
Most of the climate change argument has centered on who is rocking the boat or how hard. Based on studies of ice cores it turns out that the bigger issue is that the boat is very tippy.
I have never read anything about the equator getting similarly hot but it only stands to reason. The tropics would get really, really hot. Again, only temporarily. The massive white icecaps would soon (10,000 years) tip the balance back again.
Most of the climate change argument has centered on who is rocking the boat or how hard. Based on studies of ice cores it turns out that the bigger issue is that the boat is very tippy.