I am not convinced that we know anything from this particular item. To start with, the necessary measurements are few enough to be largely early days for this science. A simple shifting back and forth along a channel of movement will provide vast ranges of variation and that as yet can not be discounted without a massive investment in data collection that we are nowhere near having.
I have already argued for a millennial long cycle in the impact of the North Atlantic on global climate. The implied variation supports a modest increase in heat flow brought about by a modest change in flow rate of the currents. The gulf Stream is a perfectly good suspect but that does not exclude other deeper flows we barely know exist. Again, during the Bronze Age, the North Atlantic was an amazing two degrees warmer for a long time.
In short, this paper is at best a guess. The trouble with all this, besides the lack of data is the lack of perspective drawn from centuries of such observations. I sometimes wish science would hold off on speculation where the data is scant or at least say as much. Even my interpretation of a millennial cycle is based on some good evidence and a best interpretation of truly ancient sources that supports the proposition past three data points. I went looking and found support when I asked the question suggested by the key data points.
Internal heat waves are a nice idea. So are quarks. The messy part comes in demonstration. We already know that we have a discernable forty year cycle related to hurricanes and climate change generally. So we can not go too far wrong there. Transporting that heat cycle through a subsea mechanism that is not a slow moving current is helpful. Having such a device ex machina makes simulation almost work.
So prove it exists!
Internal waves transport oceanic heat within 40 years
Jun 29, 2010
The researchers reported their work in Sciencexpress.
