What is the oceans role in climate? The oceans play a vital and pivotal role in the distribution of life sustaining water throughout our planet. 86% of the evaporation that occurs on earth is over the oceans. The oceans are the planets largest reservoir of water transferring huge amounts of water around the hydrological cycle. In fact the oceans “dominate the hydrological cycle, for they contain 97% of the global water inventory” . The hydrological cycle can be disrupted by changes in ocean circulation that play such an important role on evaporation and precipitation. When the ocean circulation system changes it can change how much heat and rainfall is distributed around the world. Changes on a global scale can ultimately lead to flooding and long term drought in various regions. The big questions are can we monitor the oceans circulation and watch for climate changes? Can we predict what might happen if the ocean circulation changed dramatically? We have experienced major climate changes in the past; can we look for evidence of ocean change during these periods?
The global ocean circulation system is called the thermohaline circulation. Often called the ‘conveyor b
Further work has been carried out on sediment cores to determine oceanic influences by various people. In 1995 Delia Oppp and ScottLehman of Woods Hole analysed a core from the east flank of the Mid Atlantic Ridge. They analysed carbon isotopes in forams. Their results showed major shifts in the operation of the conveyor belt. Gerard Bond and his wife Rusty Lotti analysed a core containing iceberg-deposited sediment from latitude 50 degrees north (latitude of the south coast of England) called DSDP 609. The results from this core showed deposits of light and dark sediment some of which contained limestone. This limestone it turned out came from the Hudson Strait. John Andrews – University of Colorado and Hartmut Heinrich had both identified the same layers in core samples from the Labrador Sea and south of DSDP 609. Bond determined that at various points a huge ice sheet had dominated the Hudson strait eventually creating an ‘armada’ of icebergs that floated and melted in the Labrador Sea before moving into the North Atlantic. Bond called these ‘Heinrich events’. Once the freshwater from the ice-bergs hit the North Atlantic the conveyor starts to weaken.
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