Hypotheticals Flashcards
What would happen if the Gulf Stream disappeared?
Ocean currents dictate the Earth’s climate. They push hot equatorial waters toward the poles and return cold polar waters to the equator. In the northern hemisphere, it’s the Gulf Stream getting the job done. Moving water at roughly 2 m/s (6.5 ft/s), the Gulf Stream is one of the largest and fastest currents in the ocean.
It carries warm seawater all the way from the Gulf of Mexico to the eastern coastlines of the U.S. and Newfoundland, then across the Atlantic ocean, where it splits in two – crossing to Northern Europe and recirculating off West Africa. The Gulf Stream is a part of the global ocean conveyor belt.
The Gulf Stream is a warm current. It’s what makes winters on the west coast of Europe so mild. It also keeps winter temperatures warmer and summer temperatures cooler on Florida’s east coast.
What would happen if this warmth-bearing current was cut off?
Well, it would stop bringing warm waters to those areas. Western Europe would get plunged into a deep freeze. And so would North America. The average temperature of Europe would drop by up to 10 °C (18°F). Ice storms would rampage through Spain, France, Portugal and the UK.
The east coast of the U.S. would have a different problem – rising water levels. Normally, sea levels on the U.S. coast are lower compared to those on the coasts of Europe. That’s because the Gulf Stream is warmer when it gets to Europe. Take the Gulf Stream out of the equation, and the water would push back toward the U.S. In the long term, that would disrupt agriculture in those areas, drowning the economies that rely on growing and distributing crops.
What would be the impact on our climate system if there weren’t the Himalayan Mountains?
The Himalayas play a very important role in influencing the climate of India. India is a monsoon land only because of the presence of Himalayas. It traps the monsoon winds from Arabian sea and Bay of Bengal and forces them to shed their moisture content within the Indian sub-continent in the form of snow and rain. It also blocks the cold winter storms of East Asia from entering India, thus protecting us from severe cold. The Himalayas splits the westerly jet streams into two branches such that the southward branch entering India plays a significant role in bringing the monsoon.
What would happen if there were no more salt in the oceans?
A sea without salt would decimate marine life and dramatically affect our weather and temperatures, making human life on Earth very difficult, if not impossible.
There are roughly 228,450 species in the ocean, and as many as 2 million more to be discovered. But if the ocean were to become desalinated, we’d never find them!
Saltwater fish, and other ocean creatures evolved to be able to drink saltwater to stay hydrated, and get rid of excess salt. Not all sea creatures do this the same way, but being able to pump out excess salt is crucial to surviving in the ocean. Some species, like salmon, have adapted to tolerate freshwater and saltwater. But for the most part, all saltwater species would perish. This includes underwater algae, which, believe it or not, accounts for half the photosynthesis that occurs on earth!
Photosynthesis plays a vital role in supplying our planet with oxygen. Since trees and plants convert carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into the air we breathe! So without algae, not only do we get less oxygen, we also have a lot more carbon dioxide in our atmosphere! This intensification of the greenhouse effect would make some parts of the world unbearably hot.
You’d definitely notice this intense heat near the Equator, since our ocean currents wouldn’t be circulating warm water and air the way they used to.
Convection currents help warm water from the equator get farther north, while colder water from the north is able to cool hotter areas down south. At the Equator, warmer water can carry more salt, so this denser water sinks lower, while cooler water flows over top of it. And in the far north, the water gets cold enough to freeze and form sea ice. Salt gets left behind as the water freezes, and naturally, this makes colder water up north denser, allowing it to sink to the bottom to make room for the incoming warmer water that’s worked its way up from the South.
Without salt, the whole process breaks down. Earth’s extremities would freeze, while weather would intensify around the equator. For one thing, hurricanes would be a lot more frequent, and a lot more deadly!
What would change without the Coriolis effect?
In this case, the air at the poles would be cold and the
air at the equator would be hot. Since colder air is denser than warm air the pressure at the north pole would be larger than at the equator. The air at the equator would rise and the air at the poles would sink. At the surface, the air would flow from high to low pressure, thus from the poles to the equator. At high altitudes the air would move from the equator to the poles.
Without the Coriolis effect we would have two big atmospheric circulation cells and no jet streams.
Oceanic circulation, in turn, would stop (no more easterly trade winds or westerlies to move surface water spyral-like).
