Warming Arctic could lead to ‘little ice age’ in Europe

NASA has been consistent in maintaining that during episodes of global cooling the poles are actually warmer due to meridional jet stream flows that diverts tropical warmth to the far north and/or a depletion of the ozone layer that increases ultraviolet radiation.

The fact remains that Arctic sea ice has been in decline and this could to set into motion a “ticking climate bomb” known as the Beaufort Gyre – a huge wind-driven current in the Arctic Ocean.

The Gyre creates a cyclical movement of water expelling ice and freshwater into the eastern Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic. Over the last two decades, it has been moving faster in its usual clockwise direction, sucking in freshwater from three sources: melting sea ice, runoff flowing into the Arctic Ocean from Russian and North American rivers, and the Bering Sea.

As reported by e360.yale.edu, “the Beaufort Gyre now holds as much freshwater as all of the Great Lakes combined, and its continuing clockwise swirl is preventing this enormous volume of ice and cold-freshwater from flushing into the North Atlantic Ocean. Scientists say the gyre will inevitably weaken and reverse direction, and when it does it could expel a massive amount of icy fresh water into the North Atlantic”.

Even a small flush of 5 percent could temporarily cool the climate of Iceland and northern Europe while a larger outflow would actually threaten to shut down the Gulf Stream, an event that would see ice age conditions sweep Northern and Western Europe almost overnight. The Gulf Stream is the key to Europe’s mild, habitable climate.

During the 1960s and 1970s, a surge of fresh Arctic water was released that cooled the top half-mile of parts of the North Atlantic. Known as the Great Salinity Anomaly, British oceanographer Robert R. Dickson described it as one of the most persistent and extreme variations in global ocean climate observed during the past century between 1951 and 2010, because it even disrupted North Atlantic agriculture and food production.

Marine sediment cores drilled from the Arctic Ocean to the North Atlantic revealed a sudden increase in Arctic sea ice and cold freshwater exported to the North Atlantic starting around 1300, peaking in mid-century, and ending abruptly in the late 1300s. This discovery led researchers to the conclusion that large volcanic eruptions for example may not be necessary for large swings in climate to occur — a previously widely held assumption: “These results strongly suggest that these things can occur out of the blue due to internal variability in the climate system,” noted Dr. Martin Miles, researcher in the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research at the University of Colorado.

The release of the Beaufort Gyre, a waning magnetosphere and an intensifying Grand Solar Minimum, could all be the precursors of a colder world.

Record snowfalls cover cities – Shiga, Hikone – #Japan #snow #snowfall #snowstorm #winter #blizzard pic.twitter.com/kfQ6V49fu4

— Aleksander Onishchuk (@Brave_spirit81) December 28, 2021

Heavy snow hit the Sea of Japan coast on Monday, disrupting traffic with cities in western Japan registering record snowfalls. One town, Asago in Hyogo Prefecture, saw 71cm of snow within a 24-hours – the highest-ever accumulations in Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) record books, which date back to 1893.

Over Christmas, a severe Arctic cold spell resulted in record-breaking lows to the US Pacific Northwest and unprecedented December snow in the mountains of California and Nevada. Ketchikan, Alaska saw record lows, according to Ben Linstid, a meteorologist with the NWS in Juneau: “Zero degrees (-17.8C) was the new record set on both days … the old records were 6F (-14.4C) in 1964 on Saturday, and 5F (-15C) all the way back in 1917 on Sunday,” Linstid told krbd.org. Even colder temperatures are expected by the new year.

Canada placed Alberta and most of British Columbia and Saskatchewan, along with areas of Manitoba and Ontario, under extreme cold weather warnings. Wind chill has been measured as ranging between -40C and -55C.

In large parts of Korea, temperatures have dropped to as low as -25.4C with very heavy snowfalls. Seoul registered -16C — the capital’s coldest December temperature in 41 years, almost on par with 1980’s -16.2C.

NEW DECEMBER RECORD: 193.7"

With a 24 hour official #snow total of 38.9" at the lab, we have smashed the previous record of 179" of snow in December set in 1970!

Snow rates are still heavy and we could even break the 200" mark today!#CAwx #CAwater pic.twitter.com/x9g6fRuzHQ

— UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab (@UCB_CSSL) December 27, 2021