From Gary Leader
Fred Pearce notes the warmer temperatures enjoyed by Europe as a result of the oceanic currents flowing from the tropics past our shores (3 December, p 6). The article also leads one to believe that a shutdown in the existing current may prompt a temperature drop in Europe, in the order of 5 to 10 °C.
If the existing current does stop, one unanswered question must surely be, what will happen to the heat energy now carried out of the tropics? As a layman, I can see only three options: the tropics will increase in temperature; an alternative current will develop in the oceans that will shunt the heat away; or the atmosphere will become more turbulent as the convection currents (Hadley cells) increase over time, again shunting heat away from the tropics.
Whatever the mechanism, I suggest that the impact will be much more global than the article suggests.
Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK
