"H. E. Taylor" wrote in message
...
Greetings,
Assume the average global temperature rises 5C by 2050
and the Arctic is ice free during the summer.
What will be the effect of an ice free Arctic on North American,
[& northern hemispheric] weather patterns?
What would be the effect on the circumpolar vortex?
What would be the effect on the jet stream?
Will the prevailing winds be shifted?

I have been asking myself these questions for a novel,
but I thought I would bounce them off you folks just
for the heck of it.

For a GLOBAL rise of 5C you would have a return to conditions
similar to the Jurassic and Cretaceous. Most of North America
was below sea level then, but that was partly because there
were no ice sheets and abyssal sea temperature were much
higher. The Arctic was much warmer with deciduous trees and
coal beds were forming.

It is interesting to contemplate how fast the ice sheets would
melt. The Greenland ice sheet might collapse quite quickly. See
Robert Grumbine's FAQ. The abysal deep would warm slowly
so sea level change from that would be slow, but the thermocline
would probably deepen and that would cause some sea level rise.

HTH,

Cheers, Alastir.






If you don't like the assumption, treat it as a thought exercise.
curious
-het


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