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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 476835" data-attributes="member: 2020">Not if the arctic ocean is free of ice, Europe will not.  Greenland will remain frozen long after the arctic has cleared of ice.  Cold air roaring off of the Greenland Icecap will continue to produce the sinking of dense, cold saltwater to the bottom of the ocean, which in turn will draw in warmer water from elsewhere.  This will cause the great Conveyor Belt to continue moving, even if the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift have changed their patterns, so vast amounts of warm water will continue to flow into the arctic ocean.  The arctic ocean will warm rapidly once the ice is gone.  Very quickly, there will be no ice in this ocean during the winter, except along the coasts of Greenland.  The relatively warm water of the Arctic Ocean will warm the air above it, and this air will fill with moisture evaporated off of the water below.  Moist, cool air masses will flow into Siberia from the northwest, greatly warming Siberia and preventing the rapid drop of temperature that normally occurs over the great continental landmass in the winter.  If the temperature drops anyways, somehow, relatively warm air masses off of the Arctic Ocean will warm the air back up.  In Europe, great warm air masses will ride up out of the west, off of the warm ocean.  The ocean will be warm.  Quite warm.  There will be nothing to cool it.  No frigid arctic air masses will come roaring off of the icecap to chill the North Atlantic, because there is no icecap and the Arctic Ocean is relatively warm.  Cold air coming off of Greenland will not be sufficient to accomplish much of anything, and there will be no back-moving masses of Siberian cold washing over the Urals and into Europe, and thus out to sea.  Because the arctic is not cold, the Jet Stream will be much farther north than it is today.  Warm air out of Africa and the subtropics will push relentlessly north into Europe, and when this air hits the westerlies, it will produce rain and not snow over the Continent.  Because there is such an abundance of warm air, it will not snow in Europe south of Scandinavia.  Because there is no snow cover, it will become even warmer.  The ground will not freeze, and thus there will be no cold feedback from such a freezing.  Warm moist air off of the Atlantic, and cool moist air off of the Arctic, in combination with warm dry air from the subtropics, will produce heavy cloud cover over Europe during the winter.  Clouds hold in heat, and persistent cloud cover will thus cause the climate to warm even further.  - - -  A note on Churchill, Manitoba, Canada, on the shores of Hudson Bay.  Currently, Hudson Bay starts to freeze over in November, freezes entirely over in December, begins to thaw out in June, and totally thaws out in July.  Churchill is right on the coast, and sea breezes carry the chill air from the bay through the town the year around.  Since the normal water temperature of the Bay is in the 30s during it's ice-free period, this breeze is always cold.  Trees will not grow in Churchill, or anywhere along the coast of Hudson Bay, for this reason.  Scientists believe Hudson Bay is for a big warmup.  They expect that in 50 years, the Bay will be free of heavy pack ice the year around, and will have ice - ice, period - only during the winter months.  If this happens, Churchill may become a major seaport.    I must admit, though, that the predictions are hard to believe.  Oak and maple trees flourishing along the shores of the Bay.  The Bay warm enough to swim in (if you are hardy) during the summer.  Wheat growing around James Bay in the far south.  That would be quite a change from today (only the hardiest of stunted spruce trees can hope to survive around even James Bay today, and there is no frost free season.)</blockquote>

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