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I recently watched an interesting video* on the phenomena of extreme cold events increased by climate change. To massively simplify, one theory is the jet strea
by kinjba11 6y ago
I recently watched an interesting video* on the phenomena of extreme cold events increased by climate change. To massively simplify, one theory is the jet stream around the Polar vortex is being destabilized by climate change. While the North Pole is warming faster than ever, it is still very cold air, and moving that air further south means unusually cold weather. The jury is still out of course as you mentioned.
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W84bi9YEGY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W84bi9YEGY
- Cthulhu_ 6y agoYeah I read a similar one; because of warming, the glaciers and melted ice melt, causing the sea to desalinate a bit, which in turn makes the gulf stream stop. This stops warm water from going north and vice versa, making the north colder and the south warmer. It was implied that this caused the ice in the last ice age to travel southward. I mean I hope it won't happen in my lifetime, there were kilometers of ice on my country.
- bostik 6y agoOn a large scale, it's basic physics. The jet streams are driven by temperature gradient: warm air from equatorial regions flows to the cold poles, warming up the regions inbetween. The planet is not heating up uniformly, poles are heating up more than the equatorial regions. This of course means that the temperature gradient between the hot and cold realms is not as steep as it was. Net result? Weaker jet streams. Now it appears that moving heat from the equator to the (northern) high latitudes was only a part of the equation in keeping these latitudes temperate. Confining the freezing polar vortex to the pole was another. I'm sure there are others, and the population at large is going to learn about them in some very instructive ways in the future.