The Role of Thermohaline Circulation in Global Climate Change
The world ocean consists of 1.3 billion cu km of salty water, and covers 70.8% of the Earth's surface. This enormous body of water exerts a powerful influence on Earth's climate; indeed, it is an integral part of the global climate system. Therefore, understanding the climate system requir...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Report |
| Language: | unknown |
| Published: |
Columbia University
1991
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8m04g8h https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8M04G8H |
| Summary: | The world ocean consists of 1.3 billion cu km of salty water, and covers 70.8% of the Earth's surface. This enormous body of water exerts a powerful influence on Earth's climate; indeed, it is an integral part of the global climate system. Therefore, understanding the climate system requires a knowledge of how the ocean and the atmosphere exchange heat, water and greenhouse gases. If we are to be able to gain a capability for predicting our changing climate we must learn, for example, how pools of warm salty water move about the ocean, what governs the growth and decay of sea ice, and how rapidly the deep ocean's interior responds to the changes in the atmosphere. |
|---|