Hey everyone, welcome to Shark Week at Half as Interesting!
This year, we got rid of all of the sharks.
That’s because I have something even scarier: it’s an index card that says “the ocean
is getting a little less salty.”
Why isn’t everyone screaming?
Is that not scary enough?
Well, what if I told you it might kill thousands of people in Europe?
Ok… what if I told you it might kill thousands of people in Western Europe?
See, it is scary, and it all has to do with the collapse of everyone’s favorite gulf-based
stream, the Gulf Stream.
Now, before you go get performative depression about the Gulf Stream collapsing to impress
your latest Tinder match, I should probably explain what the Gulf Stream actually is.
Basically, it’s a major ocean current—one of the many continuous streams of seawater
that keep our oceans moving and interconnected, sort of like our proud American railway system,
except faster, more reliable, and somehow filled with fewer dead fish.
The Gulf Stream, specifically, is the current that extends from the tip of Florida, across
the Atlantic ocean, and splits up around the UK and Northern Europe.
Now at this point you might be thinking, “Boy, I’m sure glad I didn’t bring this up on
Tinder, this doesn’t sound titillating at all!
You’re the worst pick-up artist channel I’ve ever watched.”
But here’s the deal: you’re wrong.
The Gulf Stream is titillating, in much the same way that Al Gore is titillating, because
it has a massive impact on the way that our climate works.
You see, the Gulf Stream transports ocean water at an insane rate of between 30 and
150 sverdrups—that’s a flow unit based on, from how I understand it, how fast oceanographer
Harald Sverdrup could chug ocean water, which, famously, was one million cubic meters per
second.
To put that into perspective, the combined force of every single river that connects
to the Atlantic ocean only totals to about 0.6 sverdrups.
But crucially, this huge stream of water originates near the equator, making it some of the warmest
water in the Atlantic ocean.
The Northward flow of all of that warm water—and therefore warm air—accounts for about 20%
of all heat on Earth, and that plays a major role in Europe’s not-totally-frozen climate.
That’s why you always hear that classic British small-talk about the weather––little
quips like, “Warm, innit?” and “I see that the unfeeling ocean currents have continued
to spare us from eternal winter, uh… mate.”
But here’s the problem: that might not last for long.
You see, the Gulf Stream is weaker than it’s been in more than 1,600 years, and new research
from earlier this year showed that it could be nearing a complete collapse.
So, why is that happening?
Well, the short answer is climate change—or, if you don’t believe in climate change,
the answer is that God is punishing you for not believing in climate change.
But the long answer requires a little explanation of why the Gulf Stream exists in the first
place.
Basically, it’s caused by two main forces.
The first is wind: the Northeast Trade winds to the South and the Westerlies to the North—which,
when you say it out loud, is kind of a headache—work in tandem to create a gyre in the Atlantic
ocean that circulates water clockwise.
The other force, however—and this is the part of the video where you should start paying
attention—has to do with salinity.
As the Gulf Stream crosses the Atlantic, the warm water cools down and evaporates, making
it saltier, and therefore, denser.
This salty, dense water is more likely to sink towards the bottom of the ocean.
You can test this out at home by sprinkling a little table salt on a lead weight and dropping
it into your toilet—it should magically sink to the bottom.
By the time the Gulf Stream reaches the North Atlantic, it, too, sinks to the bottom and
gets caught up in deep sea currents that circulate it back Southward—this creates a continuous
force that pulls the Gulf Stream in circles, like a conveyor belt.
But now that conveyor belt is facing a problem: to really boil it down, basically, a handful
of stock photo business guys pulled too much dinosaur goo out of the ground and now Greenland
is melting into the ocean.
These ice caps are made of freshwater, not saltwater, so the runoff is diluting the entire
North Atlantic, making it less salty and dense.
This has dramatically slowed the Gulf Stream conveyor belt, and might eventually stop it
entirely.
Now, that raises a few questions: when is that going to happen?
What’s it going to do?
Am I going to die?
Is it a good idea to turn this into an environmental thriller starring Dennis Quaid?
Is Dennis Quaid going to die?
These are all good questions, but only the last two have definitive answers, and both
are no.
As for the first three, it’s a little up in the air.
If the Gulf Stream is going to collapse, climate scientists believe it could happen in as soon
as a decade, but it might take up to a few hundred years for the current to come to a
complete stop.
The effects would also be difficult to predict, and are highly disputed, but here are some
theories: Europe would likely get much colder—dropping up to 10° C or 18° F—with severe winters
and considerably harsher weather.
India, West Africa, and much of South America would likely experience increased droughts
due to a disruption of monsoon patterns, and agriculture in those regions would suffer
immensely.
The buildup of water masses along the East Coast of North America would also likely lead
to flooding and devastating hurricanes in much of the US.
In short, it could get really bad.
But as for the question of whether you’re going to die, here’s the good news: either
way, death is inescapable.
But you know what is escapable?
Bad, time-wasting habits.
If you’re anything like me—and if you’re watching these videos, you probably are—it’s
very easy to get sucked into an endless wormhole of scrolling through social media every morning,
just to keep up with current events.
That’s why I switched to Morning Brew: Morning Brew is a free daily newsletter that arrives
in your email inbox each morning and gets you up to speed on news from around the world,
broken up into witty, bite-sized pieces.
Instead of reading long, dense articles, or scraping the internet for the latest story,
it only takes me five minutes to get informed and start with my day.
Like, take this Morning Brew article on the US’ eviction moratorium: it gets straight
to the point, and tells me what I need to know without wasting any of my time.
So, if you want to unshackle yourself from the dreaded wake-up scroll, and make yourself
better informed about what’s happening in the world, Morning Brew is completely free
and only takes fifteen seconds to sign up for by clicking the button on-screen, or heading
to the link in the description.