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Europe
Europe is doomed to freeze to death in the dark
2004-01-27
EFL
Global warming will plunge Britain into new ice age ’within decades’
Britain is likely to be plunged into an ice age within our lifetime by global warming, new research suggests.
Oh, hold me, Ethel! And bring my sweater, wouldja?"
A study, which is being taken seriously by top government scientists, has uncovered a change "of remarkable amplitude" in the circulation of the waters of the North Atlantic. Similar events in pre-history are known to have caused sudden "flips" of the climate, bringing ice ages to northern Europe within a few decades. The development - described as "the largest and most dramatic oceanic change ever measured in the era of modern instruments", by the US Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, which led the research - threatens to turn off the Gulf Stream, which keeps Europe’s weather mild. If that happens, Britain and northern Europe are expected to switch abruptly to the climate of Labrador - which is on the same latitude - bringing a nightmare scenario where farmland turns to tundra and winter temperatures drop below -20C. The much-heralded cold snap predicted for the coming week would seem balmy by comparison.
Yasss... We'll prob'ly see the return of the Neanderthals, as soon as the mastodons show up...
A report by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme in Sweden - launched by Nobel prize-winner Professor Paul Crutzen and other top scientists - warned last week that pollution threatened to "trigger changes with catastrophic consequences" like these.
Maybe that's what happened in Bam?
Posted by:Patrick Phillips

#24  A2U, Yep. In that every action has a reaction, in proportion. As the universe expands, it's contraction is prepared. Look to the stars, Leo!
Posted by: Lucky   2004-1-28 1:23:24 AM  

#23  See! I told you! And you doubted me! I hope you all freeze your balls off!
Posted by: Al Gore   2004-1-27 8:59:20 PM  

#22  And does this means global warming caused the Ice Age?
Posted by: Anonymous2u   2004-1-27 7:44:22 PM  

#21  Well, bring more Christians/westerners into the US. God getting v1.0 and 2.0 ready against v3.0?
Posted by: Anonymous2u   2004-1-27 7:43:21 PM  

#20  It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

Hey, N. Euros- QUIT STEALIN' MY WARM GULF STREAM! :mad:
Posted by: 4thInfVet   2004-1-27 7:27:22 PM  

#19  So what effect will this EU iceage have on the demographics of Islamic jihadis and groupies into the UK, Frawnce, Italy, and Germany? Is the population increase proportional to temperature, like..............[better not go there]
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2004-1-27 6:42:22 PM  

#18  Disaster! I was a major supporter of global warming - a tropical island climate with palm trees sounded good to me. Now we're going to become Siberia instead.

Perhaps Hadrian's Wall can be rebuilt to keep out the glaciers.
Posted by: A   2004-1-27 6:02:30 PM  

#17  One of many things the Global warning crowd likes to ignore is that we are in an ice age currently.

BTW this theory has been around for a few years and seems to be a real phenomena.
Posted by: phil_b   2004-1-27 5:34:23 PM  

#16  3. The melting icecaps will dilute the oceans causing halibut to taste less fishy.

This is the key. The stranded Brits will be able to eat fish and not worry about their blood pressure leading to an explosive revivial of Just Put On A Decent Sweater you'll be alright. Thence the surprise decent on Britany.
Posted by: Tarryeton   2004-1-27 4:14:25 PM  

#15  Shipman, In a self brain-storming session I have held over the last fifteen minutes, I have come up with some alternate theories that seem equally valid to me. Here is a short list:
1. We can counteract this effect with an immediate large thermonuclear detonation somewhere in Pakistan.
2. After the polar ice caps melt causing the world to become very cold, the cold weather will create large ice caps at either pole.
3. The melting icecaps will dilute the oceans causing halibut to taste less fishy.
4. Kim II is leaving all the windows open throughout NK to try to improve make improve the yield of his new fast-growing Bermuda strain.
5. We ask the Lucky Eight-ball for an answer based on solid science.
6. If we feed every killer whale in the world seven bags of Lays potato chips (I understand that it is impossible for a killer whale to eat just one bag) that ocean salinity will return to balance.
7. If we outfit 11 deep-sea drilling rigs with large aluminum spoons, the turbulence created will stir up enough salt from the ocean floor to repair the delicate salty buffer of primordial liquid to ..ZZ..zz..zz
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-1-27 2:54:42 PM  

#14  Add to this: the dilution of the saline content causes the cold Labrador current to reach farther down the US coast than it currently does (approx. Cape Hatteras right now). It also travels closer to the surface, being lighter. This diverts the warmer Gulf Stream so that it makes its turn to the open Atlantic (normally up towards Ireland, etc) at a more southery latitude.

Air blowing across the Atlantic currrently is warmed by the Gulf Stream and carries that warming effect to northern Europe. If the Labrador Current predominates, the air going over the north Atlanticf is chilled, not warmed. Ergo Britain, Ireland, etc. become iceboxes.

So global warming CAN cause northern Europe to become colder.
Posted by: Steve White   2004-1-27 2:16:34 PM  

#13  I wonder if French retirees have heat.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-1-27 1:49:07 PM  

#12  Tabloid journalism, and here's why I say so:

1. The lead sentence "Britain is likely to be plunged into an ice age within our lifetime" is not supported by the information source. See http://www.igbp.kva.se/booklaunch/release2.html.

2. This was all prompted by a book release. The hype, timing, and motives suggest a possible conflict of interest. See http://www.igbp.kva.se/booklaunch/book.html.

3. Name dropping. The inference is that everything about the story must be true because a Nobel prize winner is involved. In fact, Paul Crutzen won the Nobel in 1995 for work done in 1970 showing that nitrogen oxides react with ozone. He retired in 2000 and is not even one of the authors of the book -- just a panelist at the book launch.
Posted by: Tom   2004-1-27 1:48:07 PM  

#11  Bush lied, Britain fried (oops, that's for conventional global warming, I need a 'cold' word that rhymes with 'lied' - Mike Moore call your office).
Posted by: mhw   2004-1-27 1:42:19 PM  

#10   Oh. Thanks for clarifying that for me shipman. I had never heard that before.
Posted by: Lil Dhimmi(JC)   2004-1-27 1:41:03 PM  

#9  Save a Brit; plant a scrub.
Posted by: Super Hose   2004-1-27 1:36:12 PM  

#8  What it has to do with global warming is beyond me

In theory (not mine) the melting of the Greenland ice shield will cause a dilution in the salt content of the Atlantic... which will lessen the heat carrying capacity of the Gulf Stream. So one of the first indications of global warming will be the return of the glaciers to Scotland.

I ain't makin it up.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-1-27 1:33:09 PM  

#7   I still don't understand how global warming brings colder temperatures.
Posted by: Lil Dhimmi(JC)   2004-1-27 1:23:42 PM  

#6  Chicken Little, line one. Henny Penny, Line two.
Posted by: B   2004-1-27 1:20:29 PM  

#5  We are due to slowly cycle into another ice age (in about 5000 years) and this has been known since the 1950's. What it has to do with global warming is beyond me.
Posted by: Jim   2004-1-27 1:12:21 PM  

#4  If that happens, Britain and northern Europe are expected to switch abruptly to the climate of Labrador - which is on the same latitude - bringing a nightmare scenario where farmland turns to tundra and winter temperatures drop below -20C.

They better get that EU thing organized and other member states' farms all set up and ready to go. Somebody's gonna have to feed them if they can't produce their own food.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-1-27 1:10:36 PM  

#3  Are these the same climate researchers that consider the Medieval Climate Optimum to have been a purely local phenomena, despite world-wide evidence to the contrary?
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-1-27 1:09:55 PM  

#2  Looks like another export market for our farmers is about to open up.
Posted by: Daniel King   2004-1-27 1:06:26 PM  

#1  THE SKY IS FALLING!!!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2004-1-27 12:58:19 PM  

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