Il collasso dell’AMOC diventa un rischio reale Quando un governo considera una corrente oceanica un problema di sicurezza nazionale, significa che qualcosa è cambiato davvero. L’Islanda ha ufficialmente classificato il possibile collasso dell’AMOC — la grande circolazione che porta calore dall’Atlantico ai mari del Nord — come minaccia esistenziale. Una decisione rara. E un segnale forte per l’Europa. Perché l’AMOC è così importante L’AMOC funziona come un gigantesco nastro trasportatore: acqua calda dai tropici sale verso nord, si raffredda, affonda e torna indietro in profondità. È questo flusso a rendere gli inverni europei sorprendentemente miti per la latitudine. Il problema è la velocità del cambiamento. L’acqua dolce proveniente dallo scioglimento della Groenlandia sta “diluendo” l’Atlantico del Nord, disturbando il meccanismo che permette all’acqua salata di affondare. Se l’affondamento rallenta, l’intero circuito si indebolisce. Se si ferma, collassa. Gli scienzia...
National Geographic Photographer Andrew Evans arrived on Nightengale Island shortly after the spill occurred. Watch the video he put together:
Until March 17 when the freighter Oliva ran aground and spilled approximately 1,500 tons of fuel oil onto the shores of Nightingale Island, the Tristan da Cunha archipelago had been best known by devout birders as one of the world’s primo pristine aviaries. Among the rest of the world population, however, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who even knew of these islands’ existence. Now, they’ve become the latest example of the global impact of our fossil fuel economy.
The islands, populated by 263 hardy souls, have no airport, and the sea voyage to reach them takes nearly a week from Cape Town, South Africa, roughly 1,500 miles to the east. They are the needle in the haystack that is the South Atlantic Ocean. So the chance that a freighter, not bound for the islands’ port, would somehow manage to run aground was as slim as the islands are tiny. And yet, there are now approximately 300,000 gallons of crude oil spoiling what had been one of the most pristine ecosystems on the planet. To put this event in perspective, recall the spill that occurred in San Francisco bay in 2007 when the cargo ship Cosco Busan collided with a bridge abutment, spilling approximately 58,000 gallons of its fuel oil—less than 20 percent of what was released on Nightingale Island.
to be continue ---http://climateprogress.org/2011/04/12/the-oil-economy-stains-the-most-remote-civilization-on-earth/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29
Until March 17 when the freighter Oliva ran aground and spilled approximately 1,500 tons of fuel oil onto the shores of Nightingale Island, the Tristan da Cunha archipelago had been best known by devout birders as one of the world’s primo pristine aviaries. Among the rest of the world population, however, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who even knew of these islands’ existence. Now, they’ve become the latest example of the global impact of our fossil fuel economy.
The islands, populated by 263 hardy souls, have no airport, and the sea voyage to reach them takes nearly a week from Cape Town, South Africa, roughly 1,500 miles to the east. They are the needle in the haystack that is the South Atlantic Ocean. So the chance that a freighter, not bound for the islands’ port, would somehow manage to run aground was as slim as the islands are tiny. And yet, there are now approximately 300,000 gallons of crude oil spoiling what had been one of the most pristine ecosystems on the planet. To put this event in perspective, recall the spill that occurred in San Francisco bay in 2007 when the cargo ship Cosco Busan collided with a bridge abutment, spilling approximately 58,000 gallons of its fuel oil—less than 20 percent of what was released on Nightingale Island.
to be continue ---http://climateprogress.org/2011/04/12/the-oil-economy-stains-the-most-remote-civilization-on-earth/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29