[RTÉ News] Ireland is likely to see a cooling of temperatures due to the weakening of the Gulf Stream, a report published by the Marine Institute has found

36 comments

  1. >The Irish Ocean Climate and Ecosystem Status Report found that the Gulf Stream, which is a strong ocean current that brings warm water from the Gulf of Mexico into the Atlantic Ocean, is predicted to decrease by 30% in the coming years.

    How many years? Isn’t it a bit odd to give an exact percentage with such a vague timeframe.

  2. Been hearing that since I was in school, if memory serves me, I believe the gulf stream was predicted to weaken by 2016 and be pretty much gone by 2022 when I was back at school…

    They keep making predictions and are wrong, and it really knocks their credibility…

    Sure wasn’t the world due to end 2 years ago according to the green acolyte Greta

    Stop making ‘predictions’ and campaign for nuclear power, until we can get renewables to be more reliable(if that’s even possible)

  3. The headline is misleading; the sea temperatures around Ireland have seen a cooling; the overall climate has not, and is not. The report is much more nuanced and the quotes in the article are more careful.

    The AMOC (“Gulf stream”) is slowing, time scales are difficult to estimeate, but this is not a “Day after tomorrow” scenario: the overall (national) climate remains steady or warms slightly.

    Our models typically underestimate ice sheet melting (from Greenland) and AMOC slowdown. As the ice melts, cold fresh water runs into the ocean, slowing sinking of heavier saltier water from the Carribean (the Gulf stream) slowing the transport of heat by the ocean which normally keeps our waters warm.

    So we see a cooling effect, but heat builds up in the Carribean / mid Atlantic, causing stormier hurricanes and storms that bring heat to Ireland via the atmosphere rather than the ocean route.

  4. Poor ol’ reporting there because it’s not contextualised and speculative. In the round, the climate is absolutely on a fast track to radical change because rising temperatures are rising. Best thing to do now is to look at the worst case scenario 5,10,30 years away and try to figure out mitigation steps while they goof around not reducing emissions which is too late already, the next 30 years of temperature rise is locked in. EG Build reservoirs for water storage to mitigate widespread drought by 2050 and so on. Buy snorkels for everyone because sea level rise will wash us out of it.

    We’ll see what the mood is later this year when El Nino rolls around anyway and water goes short, Spain and Italy continue their aridification pattern and German drought continues.

  7. A bit of nuance in the text.

    “What that means for Ireland is that we could be looking at a relatively cooler, and now that depends on whatever else is happening and how much the Gulf Stream weakens.

    “But a relative cooling and increase in storminess and a decrease in precipitation, particularly in the summer time.”

    If I was betting on the most disruptive aspects of climate change here it would be intense rainfall events between November and March and drought conditions from July to October.

  8. Ah lads, make up your minds it’s either fucking global warming or marine cooling, we can’t have both now, we will just wind up with “meh” as always

    ***not being serious***

  9. Realistically, how many people in here posting essays about the effects of global warming and the gulf stream do we think have any education or qualifications in climate science?

  10. I’m still fingers crossed we’ll turn into a tropical island. Or that we’ll get an even fiercer version of our mildness.

  13. Weakening of the gulf stream would mean more influence from Northern, eastern and southern fronts. This would give Ireland a more continental climate, with hot summers, cold winters.

  15. Very dubious reporting.

    >Dr Gerard McCarthy from the Icarus research facility at Maynooth University said the climate will be “much less extreme” if Ireland hits its climate targets.

    That’s a blatant lie, either from the reporter paraphrasing him, or, less likely, the man himself. Ireland is obliged to make its contribution to solving the problem, but our specific national efforts aren’t going to do a damned thing in the grand scheme of things. The results are a global aggregate, we can’t influence our local climate via emissions, for better or worse.

  18. Lovely, I’m off to buy a Range Rover and then I’ll start burning my rubbish down the bottom of the yard again!

    We did it lads!

  20. It’s quite fitting that during a global warming, Ireland would indeed be a country that gets colder.

  22. Earth is constantly changing. Always has, always will. 30% of the planet was covered in Ice 12k years ago. If you go back far enough the whole planet was joined together in one supercontinent called Pangaea.

    If you feel better driving around in a Toyota Prius or a Tesla then good for you but be under no illusions you’re not gonna stop changes. You might slow them slightly but in the context of a planets lifecycle it makes very little difference.

  23. Probably a stupid question, but is the Gulf Stream thing the reason why when I was younger around the mid-late 2000’s I used to sweat during 10 degree weather standing at my mates front door in the summer, now we regularly year in year out have 25+ degree face melting summers?

  25. How is this news? I remember early 2000s this exact warning about climate change, given the likely disruption to the Gulf Stream (pointing out to someone saying ‘bring it on’ re global warming)

  28. Yes, Ireland could indeed cool from such an event. No, Ireland is not gettting winters like Labrador or even Newfoundland if/when that happens.

  36. Climate in Ireland has never been static. What we have now is reasonable for our latitude. A decline in the warmth of the Gulf Stream could mean, in extreme circumstances, a freezing of the sea between Ulster and Scotland, as happened before according to Irish Annals.

    Depending on temperature differentials we could get a lot more stormy weather

    The 14th and 15th centuries were miserable with wet and cold conditions leading to local famines

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