The Gulf Stream

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NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio -- Visualization Credits -- Lead Animator: Greg Shirah (NASA/GSFC), Animator: Horace Mitchell (NASA/GSFC), Scientist: Hong Zhang (UCLA), Scientist: Dimitris Menemenlis (NASA/JPL CalTech). -- Modification: The file used in the 10MM exhibition has pan and scan cropping by IMAGINARY gGmbH.

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The Gulf Stream is a current in the Atlantic Ocean that brings warmth from tropical waters to the coasts of northern Europe. As a result, temperatures are higher than in other regions similarly close to the Arctic.

Models show that as the ice caps melt due to global warming, they release unsalted water into the ocean. This slows down and could even stop the Gulf Stream. North Europe could be much colder in the future!

So a trend toward global warming does not mean that temperatures will rise everywhere on Earth. Warming triggers complex reactions in the climate system that can lead to unexpected consequences.

Watch here a video showing the Gulf Stream stretching from the Gulf of Mexico towards Western Europe. This visualization was done by the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio (see credits). 

The video file used in the 10MM exhibition has pan and scan cropping by IMAGINARY gGmbH.

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