Uncle Fluffy writes: The Christian Science Monitor is reporting on a new study of recent changes in the current of the North Atlantic.

Each second, millions of cubic meters of cold, dense Arctic seawater slip over the top of an undersea
ridge stretching between Greenland and Scotland, then slide thousands of meters to the floor of the
Atlantic to begin a journey of global proportions.


Now, a team headed by oceanographer Bogi Hansen, with the Faroese Fisheries Laboratory in
Torshavn, Faroe Islands, reports that during the past half century, the flow of cold water south through a
key gap in the ridge has slowed measurably.


If that reduction isn't offset by higher flows elsewhere along the ridge, they say, their measurements could
signify that human-induced climate change is beginning to apply the brakes to the main engine-driving
North Atlantic Ocean circulation - which in turn affects conditions ranging from regional climate patterns
to economically important fisheries worldwide."