Europe is Waiting for The Coldest Winter

According to the forecasts of Polish meteorologists, the upcoming winter may be one of the toughest in Europe over the last millennium. The reason for this was the fading of the warm Atlantic Gulf Stream, which has ceased to convey heat to the European countries.

Scientists believe that the cooling of Europe due to the fact that the velocity of the Gulf Stream waters halved compared to what it was several years ago. Thus, it is unable to compensate for the cold, which brings air masses from the Arctic. According to climatologist at the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management of Poland, these changes are already visible in Norway and several other Scandinavian countries.

“If the Gulf Stream will completely disappear, then Europe is waiting for the ice age, and in Scandinavia, the formation of large ice” – he said. However, some observers believe that the reason for the weakening Gulf Stream could be to crash the oil platform “Deepwater Horizon” the British company BP in the Gulf of Mexico, which occurred in April this year. From the emergency wells Macondo into the ocean from the end of April to the end of July fell from 600 to 760 thousand tons of petroleum products.

However, conclusions about the weakening of the Gulf Stream may be premature. Oceanographer Josh Willis of NASA, in turn, proved that, over the past 18 years for the contrary became only more powerful and warmer. Scientist for nearly two decades to collect data from research vessels and satellite, which observed the sea surface. Through images from orbit was to obtain data on the heights of the sea mirrors and compare them with data from ships and weather buoys.

So, according to the buoy, the amount of warm water carried by the Gulf Stream from the Gulf of Mexico to Portugal in 2002 – 2008 years did not significantly increased. And here is the information from satellites showed that since 1993 power “ocean river” has grown by 20 percent. According to estimates marine biologist, the Gulf Stream in the 75-80 times more powerful than the Amazon site it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. Portable water temperature has risen over the past 18 years by two tenths of a degree.