By Steven Xu
No, the Gulf Steam is not coming to a stop, but major changes are taking place in the world’s oceans, according to the author of a recent Cornell study. Prof. Charles Greene, earth and atmospheric sciences, was the leading author of an oceanography study recently published in the journal Ecology.
The study examined trends in global climate and the major oceans surrounding North America.
Polar ice is part of a positive feedback loop that exacerbates climate changes. As temperature increases, ice melts. Since ice is white, Arctic melting decreases the reflectivity of the Earth. As a result, more solar radiation gets absorbed, further increasing temperatures and perpetuating the cycle. The opposite is true for temperature decreases.