The Gulf Stream is slowing faster than at any time in the last millennium, claims a new paper published in the alarmist journal Nature Climate Change.
But the paper, whose co-authors include one Michael E Mann, appears to be contradicted by real-world evidence which shows nothing of the kind.
Here is what the leading expert in the field, H Thomas Rossby, a professor at the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography said in 2014 about the Gulf Stream, which he has been measuring for the last 20 years.
“We find absolutely no evidence that suggests that the Gulf Stream is slowing down.”
So why does the new paper, lead-authored by alarmist Professor Stefan Rahmstorf, claim otherwise?
Well, whereas Professor Rosby measures the Gulf Stream using an incredibly accurate device called an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP), Rahmstorf, Mann et al prefer to use computer models.
And not just any old computer models, either but – as Anthony Watts notes here – computer models based on “adjusted” (ie dodgy) data from GISS which they appear to have misconstrued.
For example, one plank of Rahmstorf and Mann’s argument is that a cold spot south of Greenland is caused by meltwater from Greenland and it is evidence of a slowed circulation.”
What this theory appears to ignore, however, is that far from melting more – as you would expect – Greenland’s ice mass on the contrary has been increasing this year and is above the 1990-2011 mean.
So which do we trust: the climate models? Or reality?
Hmm. Tough one.