Message boards :
Cafe MilkyWay :
Climate change
Message board moderation
Author | Message |
---|---|
Send message Joined: 6 Apr 08 Posts: 2018 Credit: 100,142,856 RAC: 0 |
|
Send message Joined: 25 Jan 10 Posts: 127 Credit: 121,293,907 RAC: 0 |
It is that time of the year again. "Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have." -Thomas Jefferson American Thinker |
Send message Joined: 6 Apr 08 Posts: 2018 Credit: 100,142,856 RAC: 0 |
|
Send message Joined: 10 Nov 07 Posts: 441 Credit: 761,827 RAC: 0 |
The position of the continents determines the geometry of the oceans and therefore influences patterns of ocean circulation. The locations of the seas are important in controlling the transfer of heat and moisture across the globe, and therefore, in determining global climate. A recent example of tectonic control on ocean circulation is the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 5 million years ago, which shut off direct mixing between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. This strongly affected the ocean dynamics of what is now the Gulf Stream and may have led to Northern Hemisphere ice cover.[3][4] Earlier, during the Carboniferous period, plate tectonics may have triggered the large-scale storage of carbon and increased glaciation.[5] Geologic evidence points to a "megamonsoonal" circulation pattern during the time of the supercontinent Pangaea, and climate modeling suggests that the existence of the supercontinent was conducive to the establishment of monsoons.[6] |
©2024 Astroinformatics Group