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- Title
Thermohaline circulation, the achilles heel of our climate system: will man-made CO2 upset the current balance?
- Authors
Broecker WS
- Abstract
During the last glacial period, Earth's climate underwent frequent large and abrupt global changes. This behavior appears to reflect the ability of the ocean's thermohaline circulation to assume more than one mode of operation. The record in ancient sedimentary rocks suggests that similar abrupt changes plagued the Earth at other times. The trigger mechanism for these reorganizations may have been the antiphasing of polar insolation associated with orbital cycles. Were the ongoing increase in atmospheric CO2 levels to trigger another such reorganization, it would be bad news for a world striving to feed 11 to 16 billion people.
- Publication
Science (New York, N.Y.), 1997, Vol 278, Issue 5343, p1582
- ISSN
1095-9203
- Publication type
Journal Article
- DOI
10.1126/science.278.5343.1582