Ocean Circulation Doesn't Work As Expected

techno-vampire writes with word that a long-accepted model of deep ocean currents is inaccurate. Deep Sea News has a summary of the research, to be published in Nature. The Woods Hole press release has more details. "A 50-year-old model of global thermohaline circulation that predicts a deep Atlantic counter current below the Gulf Stream is now formally called into question by an armada of subsurface RAFOS floats drifting 700 - 1500m deep. Nearly 80% of the RAFOS floats escaped the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC), drifting into the open ocean. This confirms suspicions that have been around since the 1990s, and likely plays havoc with global models of climate change."

Comments

The global (computer) models of climate change

[Anonymous Coward]

aren't accurate? For Gore's sake, what a surprise!

Re:The global (computer) models of climate change

[hey!]

sheesh. Don't they teach kids how to do fluid dynamics calculations with billions upon billions of variables all of which change over with time and depend on a multitude of other models which themselves have varying levels of accuracy to their data these days.

My wife went to grad school in physical oceanography (at WHOI, it turns out).

One of my MIT buddies was this guy who pretty much finished up course 18 (Mathematics) undergrad requirements at the end of his sophomore year, and spent the next two years studying these really thin, expensive, and badly printed books of what looked like the output of a line printer on the wrong parity setting. I knew my then girlfriend was in trouble when I told this guy what she was studying and he was impressed.

Re:The global (computer) models of climate change

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

Calculations! Huh! In my day, we solved Thermodynamic Navier-Stokes equations analytically or we didn't solve 'em at all. Yes sir, if you wanted something done right you had to solve it by hand! None of these razzle dazzle calumalators. We derived systems of diffeo-integral equations from first principles, solved them using power series with Bessel's Functions and we liked it!

Boundary conditions!? Hah! We used elliptic integrals and n^th order polynomials to generate our boundaries. None of your hoi polloi "splines" and "fractals". What good's a function that's not 10^th order continuous, I ask yah?! Bunch of whippersnappers! Let's see how your spline deals with my 4^th order constraint! Hah!

Floating point?! What luxury! In those times, if you wanted some numerical results, well sir, you had to generate an asymptotic series out to fifteen terms, and calculate your answer using surds and continued fractions, uphill both ways. In the snow. Course if you were lucky, you might get your 5 minute turn with the shared slide rule. That is, if it wasn't rusted up from the damp and cold. Great days.

"Billions upon billions of variables". You youngsters and your numerical models. Nothing gained that couldn't have been got from one afternoon with a fluid dynamics problem set. No wonder the world's gettin' warmer with all the HOT AIR comin' out you an all your bippity-boppity, hankly-pankly, good for nothin' electromonic computers !!

Re:The global (computer) models of climate change

[JWSmythe]

Of course 1+1=1. Schrödinger only had one cat in the box. 1 living cat + 1 dead cat = 1 cat.

Re:The global (computer) models of climate change

[Have Brain Will Rent]

Analytical solutions? Bah! We knew the solution was 42. Unless it was a Wednesday, then it was 12.

Re:The global (computer) models of climate change

[operagost]

One of my MIT buddies was this guy who pretty much finished up course 18 (Mathematics) undergrad requirements at the end of his sophomore year, and spent the next two years studying these really thin, expensive, and badly printed books of what looked like the output of a line printer on the wrong parity setting.

That guy must really be a moron if it took him two years to figure out perl.

that won't stop old Al

[Gothmolly]

Clearly this is a product of Western materialism. However, Al Gore will stop at nothing to demonstrate our danger:

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/al_gore_caught_warming_globe_to

Re:deniers come out in 3 .. 2 .. 1 ..

[maxwell demon]

There is no global warming. It's just the surface. The core temperature is unaffected.

Re:No, No, now it's worse!!!!

[maxwell demon]

Don't worry. It won't affect us before the CERN black holes have eaten the planet. :-)

Re:Better call Dennis Quaid on Sunday...

[Shakrai]

Yeah, but today is two days before the day after tomorrow!

ocean bug report?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is it me, or does the title sound like a bug report indicating that the oceans to not behave properly?

Can not reproduce. Will not fix.

Re:deniers come out in 3 .. 2 .. 1 ..

[DoofusOfDeath]

war cry of the crank

OMG. Best. Game. Title. Evar.

Mmmm, CPMA

[ndg123]

Its been a while since I worked a problem queue for a living, but this sev 1 defect which has been raised "Ocean Circulation Doesn't Work As Expected" is just going to be closed as "Working as designed".

Re:deniers come out in 3 .. 2 .. 1 ..

[jhw539]

"Correlation does not equal causation. Ever."

What? Every case of causation I've ever heard of also showed correlation. Correlation does not PROVE causation, but it is a big flashing sign with a buxom topless girl waving pom poms jumping around it pointing in the right direction.

Note that at this point, the link between smoking and lung cancer still doesn't have a definitively proven causation.

Re:Driving Blind

[DamienNightbane]

And the best part is that in 360 million more years all the dinosaurs that Global Warming(TM) brings back will be ready for our gas tanks. Oil crisis averted!

Re:deniers come out in 3 .. 2 .. 1 ..

[Anonymous Coward]

You had me until "LOL"

Re:Driving Blind

[karbyn-aceous]

Well, it's their fault for being on our land before we got here.

Re:Driving Blind

[DinDaddy]

Well, yeah, in SOviet Russia.