Global warming.

[Digit]

And that report you posted Min has got to be the least biased, best presented case I personally have seen to date.

[Beagle]

http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnatu ... _jets.html

What makes these narrow jets of sometimes 100 mph winds so important? They could be one of the drivers of the ocean’s main circulation.

On the global conveyor belt’s path, warm water from the tropics flows northward to the pole, where it becomes denser and sinks to the ocean floor, and then returns to the tropics. The water’s density increases as it becomes colder and saltier—winds blowing over the water can transfer heat and moisture away from the surface waters, which is what Moore suspected the tip jets were doing.

Another budding theory on the thermohaline effect and ocean current shutdown.
From the Daily Grail.

[Digit]

Only known for ten years Beag, what else do we think we know but probably don't? Mind you there wouldn't be anywhere like the interest if we knew it all would there?

[Beagle]

Hmm..I've only been aware of the salinity factor, not the Greenland winds theory.

Weather experts have only really known about these so-called tip jets for less than a decade, and most of what they knew was from satellite data. The team of scientists, as part of the International Polar Year effort, recently sought to go airborne for a close-up look at the roaring winds.

But I guess this is a newer study.

[ravenwing5910]

[/quote]The Gaylord parcel is part of a national experiment to test the ground's capacity as a storage vault for carbon dioxide emissions.[quote]

http://www.mlive.com/news/bctimes/index ... xml&coll=4

Ok, let me get this straight.....we have polluted our air, our water, our soil, now lets see what else we can get to.

[Forum Monk]

We have polluted our minds also.

[ravenwing5910]

We have polluted our minds also.

[Digit]

Speak for youself Monk. Mine is as pure as the driven slush!

[Mayonaze]

The mechanics of global climate continue to elude ...

"This challenge to the 'Snowball Earth' opens intriguing questions about how the Earth came so close to climate disaster but managed to avoid it, according to Professor Allen.

'This was the most severe glaciation experienced by the planet over the last billion years, and the big question is - how can ice get all the way to the tropics but not finish the job?" he says. "The total icy shutdown that we came so close to would have dealt a severe blow to early life and most likely would have resulted in a completely different evolutionary pathway. The reasons for Earth’s near-miss with global refrigeration remains an important scientific question to resolve.' "

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newsandevent ... ewsid=8473

[Beagle]

It seems that in Earths' remote past it has vascillated between becoming a frozen snowball and a greenhouse like Venus.

I've wondered before, if most of the Earth was frozen solid except for a thin band around the equater, there couldn't have been very much seawater compared to normal. Even considering the vastness of the oceans, that would be a record low water level.

[Digit]

Maybe that's what halted it Beag shallow water, perhaps just the glacial meltwater, that would have warmed to the bottom thereby preventing any further freezing.

[Beagle]

Could be Digit. I also imagine that at some point the Earth went through a period of increased volcanic activity. A good layer of dark volcanic dust will help absorb heat.

However it happened, it's good for us that it did.

[Forum Monk]

The volcanic activity puts sulfur diaoxide and other compounds into the upper atmosphere which reflect solar energy back into space. Less infra-red reaching the ground means cooler temperatures.

Some of the research I have seen says the sea level was down 120 meters (metres ) during the LGM. Do you think it may have been shallower at other times?

[Minimalist]

Supposedly, at the height of the ice age the water's edge was some 40+ miles east of this museum display I was looking at. I was standing in Riverhead, NY at the time which means that Long Island would have been a hell of a lot larger.

[Beagle]

Some of the research I have seen says the sea level was down 120 meters (metres ) during the LGM. Do you think it may have been shallower at other times?

I sure do. I was referring to Mayos' post about "snowball earth" 850 million years ago.