The Flood Will Destroy Mankind
Scientists, as if by agreement, continue to scare the inhabitants of our planet with impending disasters. This time, the global flood acted as the “element of nature”, designed to destroy all mankind. Spanish hydrologists believe that it may come as early as the beginning of this century – due to the melting of the notorious glaciers. Will their prophecies come true?
Modeling changes in the Atlantic currents that have occurred in the past has allowed an international team of scientists to calculate the rate of sea level rise. Hydrologists believe that in the next century, water can take away territories from the largest maritime powers. Moreover, experts traditionally blame the new global flood on the notorious global warming, the onset of which is an absolutely unproven thing.
What exactly are we afraid of this time? Researchers from the University of Seville believe that with the increase in global warming, undercurrents in the Atlantic and Arctic oceans are also intensifying. True, they are not yet able to answer the question why this happens (in theory, it should be the other way around, because warming weakens the difference between the water temperature at the equator and the poles, which just creates global ocean currents like the Gulf Stream).
The additional redistribution of water resulting from these phenomena, according to hydrologists, accelerates the rate of advance of the sea. This statement seems very doubtful, since it violates the law of conservation of mass – after all, an increased current cannot create an additional volume of water from nothing. However, according to the forecast of Spanish experts, this is exactly what will happen in the middle of the 21st century, and as a result, most of Iceland, almost all of Scotland and many northern islands will be under water. Flooding also threatens Denmark and the Netherlands.
In addition, the authors of this forecast are convinced that the melting of the Arctic glaciers will lead to a cooling of the Gulf Stream. How to connect this with global warming, which should cause an increase in water temperature in the tropics, from where the Gulf Stream begins its journey to the north, is also not entirely clear. In addition, it turns out that two incompatible processes will occur on Earth in parallel – a simultaneous increase in temperature, melting glaciers, and its decrease, freezing the Gulf Stream, which cannot be in reality.
But let’s get back to another climatic “horror story” that was composed by Spanish hydrologists. So, the cooling of the Gulf Stream will upset the temperature balance in the northern latitudes. In the remaining territories of Great Britain, Ireland and, in part, Canada, a person will not be able to live. And the melting of the southern glaciers threatens virtually all island nations in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as Australia and South America.
So, what are the authors of the idea of a “new global flood” going to scare us with? The fact that global warming and a new ice age will come on the planet at the same time? But this idea, due to its complete absurdity, is not capable of frightening even a schoolboy. Perhaps the researchers had something completely different in mind.
Apparently, they proposed the following disaster scheme. First, global warming will cause a massive melting of glaciers, due to which the level of the World Ocean will temporarily rise and some inhabited areas will be flooded. Significant masses of cold water formed during this will cause the Gulf Stream to stop, and as a result, the climate in the Northern Hemisphere will become more frosty. At the same time, the melting of glaciers will stop, and part of the water that caused the global flood will freeze again.
The level of the World Ocean will fall again, the flooded lands will again be blown out from under the water, but due to the fact that they will turn into a “kingdom of eternal cold”, it will be impossible to live on them. Such a hypothesis seems to be the most logical, since in this presentation it at least does not contradict itself.
But is it really so? Probably not, and here’s why. Even if we imagine that all the glaciers of the Arctic and Antarctic will suddenly melt in a short time, then the “liberated” water will not necessarily all merge into the ocean. An increase in the average temperature of the planet’s atmosphere also leads to an increase in the evaporation of water. As a result, new rain air masses are formed, which do not always pour their moisture into the sea. Much of the rain will also fall on land.
These rains can successfully “absorb” the territories of huge deserts, such as the Sahara, Gobi, Karakum and Kyzyl Kum. The released water forms new rivers and lakes on their territory. Of course, in the end it will still end up in the ocean, but this process will be very long and will not cause an instant change in its level (we should not forget that the evaporation of sea water in the tropics will continue).
In addition, increased precipitation at the poles, occurring exclusively in the form of snow, will cause the formation of new glaciers. The fact is that summer in the polar regions of the Earth is short and not very hot, so all the snow that has fallen during the winter simply does not have time to melt. Accumulating, under its own weight, it turns into firn (an intermediate state between snow and ice, somewhat similar to a snowdrift of spring packed snow), from which a glacier is formed again.
That is, it turns out that our planet is actually able to regulate the level of the World Ocean itself. It is possible that the process described above will take place for a long time, several hundred thousand or even millions of years, and during these regulations, sea attacks on land (transgressions) may occur, but they are unlikely to be so sharp and catastrophic. In addition, it should be remembered that during any transgressions, some territories are flooded, while others, on the contrary, “rise” from under the water (conservation laws continue to work here too).
As for the “stopping” of the Gulf Stream, then, according to the studies of domestic paleoclimatologists, carried out back in the 20th century, it should not lead to a global cooling of the polar regions, but, on the contrary, to their warming. After all, what is the source of the raw materials from which the polar ice is formed? That’s right, the masses of precipitation in the form of snow, which brings precisely this warm current. If the Gulf Stream does not properly supply snow to the north, then the glaciers will not be able to recover and will eventually begin to melt. The same thing that happens after that was described above.
With the Southern Hemisphere and the situation in Antarctica, everything is even more interesting. The masses of water formed due to the melting of the local glaciers, for the most part, will not be able to move far from the continent, they will simply not be let in by the cold current of the Western winds, “encircling” the ice continent in the region of 40 southern latitudes. The accumulation of cold water around Antarctica will cause a local decrease in temperature and the formation of new ice masses. So Australians, New Zealanders and Oceanians in general can sleep peacefully.
As you can see, the prediction made by Spanish hydrologists is unlikely to come true. Most likely, its authors themselves understand this. Probably, the presented model was just a way to scare taxpayers and thereby extort more money from the budgets of various states for research with completely different goals.
Unfortunately, this way of obtaining additional grants has recently become very unhealthy popularity, since any person is ready to pay whatever they want to be saved from disaster. So scientists begin to compose absurd horror stories like global warming, a great solar storm or a worldwide flood. And if the catastrophe still does not happen (which always happens), then there is no need to report on the amounts spent, since any prediction never guarantees one hundred percent probability that it will come true.
All these “apocalypses” are already so tired that there is a temptation to suggest to the governments of all states to use the methodology of the ancient Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. He always generously paid the soothsayers for the prediction, but if it did not come true, he executed not only the “prophets” themselves, but also their families. Perhaps that is why scientists of that time did not predict any catastrophes …
