h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Well, it appears the Day After Tomorrow is going to happen after all:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/30/science/30cnd-climate.html?ex=1291006800&en=f359e635107b8a19&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

All you nice people in the British Isles and points north have space on my couch if your house gets buried under an ice sheet.



*Goes looking for more couches.*

We had snow last Saturday, but it disappeared today... Early for snow, but not unheard of. We'll see what happens in the next 50 years, I suppose. Thanks for the couch offer though, mind if I bring family, friends and relatives?

You're kidding;I've just turned the heating off!

It was kind-of-but-not-really a joke. Seriously, though- this has been my pet theory for a while. When global warming melts the ice caps, it chucks a lot of cold freshwater into the ocean. This shuts down the ocean circulation, which relies on salinity and temperatures, AKA the thermohaline circulation. The result? Warm water from the tropics doesn't get north, giving us a cooling at the poles.

Hi Augmenter!

Sounds good to me!Hi to you too.

Hi Augmenter - I live in Sweden after all, even though in the 'extreme' south, near Denmark.

It does make some sense, Scan, I haven't though much about the released freshwater... but I have heard that the glaciers on the Alps have decreased significantly. Don't know any references though.

Hello Milla,----There was a report in the Independent yesterday that said"By 2020,three quarters of the Swiss ice-caps will have dissappeared" ---Scary!!!

All joking aside, it's very scary. I wish I knew more about it, specifically how to stop it, or if it can't be stopped, how to prevent loss of life.

I always find it stunning when flying across the Atlantic from Ireland: In a couple of hours, without changing latitude, you go from lush, well tended green pastures to hundreds of miles of desolate frozen wastes.

It's a scary thought, although I am somewhat consoled that the last big freeze 10,000 years ago is believed to have been caused mainly by the sudden release of fresh water from the American ice caps into the Atlantic. Whether the current cooling in the gulf-stream is a fluctuation or a long-term trend is an open question, I think.

Don't worry all, it will make a change!

I read this morning that it is the speed(down 30% in last decade)that is causing concern.Aparrently theU.K benefits from the heat equivalent to that given off by a million power stations,via the stream!

Will all the UKian and Scandinavian h2g2 folk fit on your couch?

Hey i'ed like to pre-book a couch to please, one with a south faceing aspect...

OK- so I've got a reservation for RJR and his family. Anyone else?

What's the breakfast menu?

*checks*

Looks like eggs, toast, and yak milk.

Just wondered, if it was bacon,could you please make it what I think you call 'Canadian cut'.Often wondered if you over there just breed pigs with big bellies?

My apologies if you are Vegetarians

Nah- definitely not a vegetarian.

Canadian bacon? Isn't that ham?

No,the only bacon I have experienced in America(and it's sattelites),is what we refer to as 'Streaky',which is the belly part.In the UK the most common cut of bacon is from the loin(just under the backbone)!