Wednesday, January 26, 2005
Far northern rivers are discharging increasing amounts of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, due to intensified precipitation caused by global warming, say researchers at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in the United Kingdom.
Water exchange between the ocean, atmosphere, and land is called the global hydrological cycle. As Earth’s climate warms, the rate of this exchange is expected to increase. As part of this process, high-latitude precipitation and, consequently, river runoffs are also expected to increase. This could change the distribution of water on Earth’s surface, with important social and economic consequences.
It could also alter the balance of the climate system itself, such as the Atlantic thermohaline circulation, a kind of conveyor belt. Cold water flows southward in the Atlantic at great depths to the tropics, where it warms, rises, and returns northward near the surface. This flow helps keep northern Europe at a temperate climate, whereas the same latitudes in North America are sparsely settled tundra or taiga.
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