From the BBCNEWS dated Wednesday, 30 November 2005, 18:53 GMT:
Changes to ocean currents in the Atlantic may cool European weather within a few decades, scientists say.
Researchers from the UK's National Oceanography Centre say currents derived from the Gulf Stream are weakening, bringing less heat north.
Their conclusions, reported in the scientific journal Nature, are based on 50 years of Atlantic observations.
They say that European political leaders need to plan for a future which may be cooler rather than warmer.
The findings come from a British research project called Rapid, which aims to gather evidence relating to potentially fast climatic change in Europe.An interesting side note is that this very same thermohaline circulation - known as the "Great Conveyor Belt" - was triggered by the creation of the Isthmus of Panama as North and South America came together in the Pliocene. This development may well have started a chain-reaction which eventually led to the rise of bipedal primates half way around the world on the African savanna. I guess what goes around comes around ... 
Ocean changes 'will cool Europe'
Changes to ocean currents in the Atlantic may cool European weather within a few decades, scientists say.
Researchers from the UK's National Oceanography Centre say currents derived from the Gulf Stream are weakening, bringing less heat north.
Their conclusions, reported in the scientific journal Nature, are based on 50 years of Atlantic observations.
They say that European political leaders need to plan for a future which may be cooler rather than warmer.
The findings come from a British research project called Rapid, which aims to gather evidence relating to potentially fast climatic change in Europe.
