In this episode of Maine Coast Dock Talk, Dr. Dave Reidmiller joins the podcast to discuss a recent study out of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution which found that the Gulf Stream is warming and weakening. Ben and Dave give an overview of the importance of the Gulf Stream, why a warming Gulf Stream is a weaker Gulf Stream, and what that could mean for the Gulf of Maine, the Atlantic Ocean, and the rest of the world.
We also throw some cold water on the “Day After Tomorrow" scenario that some alarmist publications have suggested is happening.
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The Gulf Stream is the warm water current that runs from the tropics into the northern latitudes eventually making its way past Europe to Iceland. This river of warm water in the Atlantic is a crucial part of our planet's climate equation shaping weather patterns and bringing heat and energy from the sunny tropics to the cooler, higher latitudes.
A study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution has unveiled that over the last 20 years, the Gulf Stream has been warming, and now we have a better understanding of the extent of that warming and what it might mean for the Atlantic and coastal communities.
Over 25,000 temperature and salinity profiles were gathered between 2001 and 2023 for the study, and the data suggests that the Gulf Stream is heating up by about 1°C (2 °F), it's shifting shoreward by roughly 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) every decade and it has also slowed by 4% in the past 40 years.
These changes could influence everything from storm patterns to coastal fisheries.
Give a listen to Ben and Dave as they chat about this study and the local impacts a warmer, weaker Gulf Stream could have in the Gulf of Maine.
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Read more about this study in the Portland Press Herald https://www.pressherald.com/2023/10/23/a-warming-gulf-stream-is-edging-ever-closer-to-shore/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=A+warming+Gulf+Stream+is+edging+ever+closer+to+shore&utm_campaign=PH+Daily+Headlines+ND+-+NO+SECTIONS&mc_cid=63fbc8986b&mc_eid=4020f42d46
Press Release from Woods Hole https://www.whoi.edu/press-room/news-release/new-study-definitively-confirms-gulf-stream-weakening/
Learn more about David Reidmiller and his work at Gulf of Maine Research Institute. https://www.gmri.org/our-approach/staff/david-reidmiller/
