All new signs of global warming make the discussion of the geopolitical consequences of this process more relevant. Everything goes to the fact that the climate on Earth will change significantly: somewhere it will become much warmer, and somewhere much colder; somewhere the humidity will increase, and somewhere it will decrease. And besides, some parts of the land will go under water altogether. This is if you say plain language. In reality, everything is much more complicated. For example, what happens to the water level in the seas? Is he going up or going down? The answer seems to be obvious, especially considering that over the past 25 years, Antarctica has lost more than three trillion tons of ice. But…
A little about planet Earth
To understand exactly what is happening, we first need to remember that our planet is not homogeneous. It began its life about 4.5 billion years ago as a hot ball, and since then its temperature has gradually decreased. At the very center of the planet is the core, which presumably consists of an alloy of iron and nickel, and its temperature is about 6 thousand degrees Celsius.
This core is surrounded by a layer of molten metal about 2,000 km thick. It consists again mainly of nickel and iron. Next comes a layer called the Earth's mantle. Its temperature varies from 800 to 2000 degrees Celsius. At such high temperatures, the matter that makes up the mantle is in a solid state of aggregation only under pressure. However, closer to the surface of the Earth, the pressure is less, therefore, the substance is more plastic.
And, finally, the surface of the Earth - its, so to speak, "skin" - is the earth's crust. It practically “floats” on the liquid mantle.
What happens if all the glaciers melt?
If weight increases earth's crust, for example, when kilometers of ice freeze over it, it sinks deeper into the mantle. This is exactly what happened in Antarctica and Greenland, where the surface of the earth is covered with a layer of ice two to three kilometers thick. If global warming causes all this ice to melt, then the water level in the oceans will rise by more than 50 meters, as a result of which all the coastal cities of the world will be flooded, and hundreds of millions of people will be left homeless. This seems quite obvious. However, it is less obvious how this all can happen in reality.
The essence of the post-glacial rebound
If the entire ice sheet covering Antarctica melts, then the pressure on the surface of the Earth below it will decrease. Solid rocks, since they are on a plastic mantle, will rush upward. This phenomenon is called post-glacial rebound.
The state of affairs in Greenland is similar: the earth's crust is weighed down huge amount water that rests on the ice sheet. And if this shield melts, then part of the North American territory will rise. If the resulting increase in the height of the continent is greater than the rise in sea level, then it will be possible to avoid major floods. Developing more likely scenarios is vital for future generations. If global warming accelerates, then one of these scenarios will have a better chance of being realized.
Why is the water level rising and what does it threaten?
It is known that average level sea has risen by 20 centimeters since the beginning of the twentieth century. The first reason for this phenomenon is that water is expanding: the oceans are warming up, and hot liquids are taking up more volume. Another reason is the melting of the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica and other glaciers. Sea level rise is global: it affects both large states with negligible coastlines and tiny islands. Pacific Ocean, which as a result can be completely submerged under water. And for a country like Bangladesh, a one meter rise in sea level would result in almost a fifth of its territory being submerged and 30 million people would need to be evacuated. While rising sea levels affect everyone, the post-glacial rebound only affects areas occupied by the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.
The Importance of Research
The importance of this problem cannot be overestimated. More data is essential to understand all these processes. Currently, a number of specialized satellites, such as Cryosat, Grace and ICESat-2, are used to monitor ice thickness and develop post-glacial rebound models. According to scientists, if the ice in the northern hemisphere melts first, then Greenland could rise above mean sea level, as well as part of North America, so the sea level in these regions may decrease. If events develop according to a different scenario, that is, the Antarctic ice will melt first, then it is the southern tectonic plates that will rise, and then the entire eastern coast of North America will go under water. The main unknowns in this process are how fast the ice will melt and how fast the post-glacial rebound will occur.
Tasks of scientists
One of the main tasks of scientists today is to understand these processes quickly and as best as possible. Otherwise, disaster will be inevitable. Unfortunately, today this topic is given very little attention in the media.
French Ecology Minister Nicolas Hulot recently resigned, citing the fact that he considers the attitude of the president and the government to environmental issues. At the same time, he expressed the concern of the entire scientific community: world leaders should definitely pay special attention to these problems as soon as possible.
prospects
However, not all governments consider this task so urgent. Perhaps this is due to the fact that some countries will benefit from global warming, while others will lose. For example, Russia will be less affected by sea level rise and may even be able to benefit from it. A more temperate climate can be established on its territory. But, for example, most of St. Petersburg and almost the entire Yamal Peninsula can be flooded.
But the United States, on the contrary, may suffer quite strongly: the formation of new arid zones is possible, and its eastern coast may be flooded with water. Thus, large cities such as Los Angeles, along with a significant part of California, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico, may disappear.
Europe could lose London, Venice, the Netherlands and most of Denmark. It is not worth talking about island states such as the Republic of Maldives and Tuvalu - they will go completely under water.
In the meantime, the ice continues to melt, and over time it will become clear which countries need to pay special attention to climate change and somehow try to prevent terrible disaster. But it would be better to do it as soon as possible.
Archipelago Paris
The near future of mankind looks, to put it mildly, unoptimistic. According to the calculations of the American Gordon Michael Scallion, a former communications engineer, today a futurologist and writer, due to global warming, glaciers will melt, sea levels will rise and entire regions will be under water.
The best prospects, according to Scallion, are among the inhabitants of the Urals. During the flood, they won't even get their feet wet. But at the same time, they will be partially cut off from many regions of their native country and completely from Europe. Four seas - the Caspian, Black, Kara and Baltic will merge into one and separate the territory former USSR from the European Union. Estonia, Latvia and almost all of Lithuania, according to the American forecast, will drown. And along with them and Belarus. By the way, with such a scenario, the difficult Russian-Belarusian problems will naturally be resolved: the stumbling block - the long-suffering gas and oil pipelines will be on the seabed, where only divers will be able to collect transit fees. However, in fact, there will be nowhere to pump hydrocarbons. Almost all of Central Europe, following Belarus, will also go under water.
According to Scallion's theory, Europe will suffer more than others. After the failure of the tectonic plate, the entire north of the mainland will go under water. In place of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Great Britain, Scotland and Ireland, in accordance with these gloomy prophecies, only islands will remain. For example, Paris will cease to be the capital, and will turn into an archipelago. It will flood a third of Spain and three-quarters of Italy. The Black Sea will flood Bulgaria and Romania.
At the bottom of the sea will be Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, as well as western Kazakhstan. And only the east of Russia will not be affected by the elements. Well, or almost not affected.
According to Scallion's prophecies, after the flooding of the Eurasian continent, it is Russia that will become the breadbasket of Europe. Although it is not entirely clear: if these forecasts come true, what will Europe supply us in return for the zhit? Postcards with a view of semi-flooded Paris? Frogs?
Before the Apocalypse - 5 years?
The period between 1998 and 2012 is what Scallion calls the "Disaster Period". In his opinion, there will be a shift magnetic poles which will cause the earth's crust to move. Waves of epidemics of unknown diseases will roll over, active tectonic activity will begin.
What does he say about this modern science? The climate on the planet is indeed getting milder. Moreover, the average temperature in the Arctic is growing especially rapidly: by 3-4 degrees over the past 100 years. The glaciers are melting, and the threat of a flood exists. But it is not entirely clear why the Arctic and Antarctica must melt by 2012? Why not in 50 million years? The author of "maps of the future world" bases his predictions on his gift of clairvoyance. This is a wonderful gift, but scientists prefer to use prosaic facts in their forecasts. And they are as follows: so far, the greenhouse effect has been recognized as the only more or less intelligible explanation for the increase in the temperature of the planet. The so-called greenhouse gases - methane, fluorine, chlorinated hydrocarbons, nitrogen and carbon dioxide, entering the atmosphere, trap heat. And when too many of them accumulate in the atmosphere, the planet begins to overheat.
This, of course, is harmful. But it should be borne in mind that it is also impossible to completely do without these gases, otherwise the Earth will turn into an icy desert. In other words, the problem is not in the fight against the mentioned gases, but only in a reasonable limitation of their content in the atmosphere. In addition, it cannot be definitely said that some heating is contraindicated for humanity. Especially our country, 55 percent of whose territory is located in the permafrost zone.
Volcano as an air conditioner
But tectonic activity does not need to be thrown into the general pile of problems. Earthquakes, if they are not accompanied by an ejection a large number methane does not significantly affect the planet's climate. As for volcanoes, they give just the opposite effect: they cool the Earth. That is, of course, it is not the volcano itself that cools the planet, but the volcanic dust scattered in the atmosphere. Thus, the activity of volcanoes and the global flood are mutually exclusive things. Either - or: either we sink, or we freeze.
In fact, we are regularly predicted either a coming global flood, or an ice age, or a drought on a planetary scale. Or exotic cataclysms, like life in the ultraviolet due to the destruction of the ozone layer. So the problem is not in the forecasts themselves, but in the surrounding reality. Previously, futuristic maps of flooding caused a smile, and the discussions of scientists on the subject of whether the climate on the planet is changing or these are the intrigues of sensational journalists were not of much interest to the layman. Now - another matter. It is not necessary to discuss, it is enough to look out the window. Alas, it is changing. According to experts from the Institute of Global Climate and Ecology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, most land regions are ahead of warming. Already today, in winter in the northern regions, the temperature rise is faster than the average for the globe, in summer, a faster increase is expected in the Mediterranean region, Central Asia and in the north. But scientists consider any estimates of expected regional climate changes to be very unreliable.
Director of the Institute Academician Yuri Izrael recommends not to be afraid of any global cataclysms associated with warming for at least the next hundred years. Although the temperature on Earth is changing, these changes are far from fatal.
What to do?
Nothing more original than limiting emissions greenhouse gases, scientists have not yet come up with. Ideally, of course, one must learn from time to time to "open the window" of our planet and simply release unnecessary gases into space. Even better, if some genius invented climate control for the entire Earth. The monument is guaranteed during his lifetime.
Who and what threatens the current warm winter?
competently
...animals in the zoo
Raisa Koroleva, EMPLOYEE OF THE PRESS SERVICE OF THE MOSCOW ZOO:
In our zoo, everyone who is supposed to sleep - snakes, amphibians, marmots and bears. However, one brown bear sometimes wakes up, but for him it is quite normal reaction, even in harsh winters he would rise from the lair and go begging from the audience. Of course, if the temperature rises further, it is possible that his brethren will rise as well.
...bears and hedgehogs
Alexey Kokorin, HEAD OF WWF CLIMATE PROGRAM:
In central Russia, there are many cases when brown bears wake up. But there are no special problems here - if the bear is well-fed enough, he can fall asleep again. As for hedgehogs and small rodents, an unforeseen wake-up call can end tragically for them. We have data that hedgehogs woke up, for example, in the Oksky Reserve. If frost hits now and the temperature drops to minus 10 degrees, then 90 percent of the hedgehogs will die there. The only hope is that the situation will develop systematically and the snow layer will reach 15-20 centimeters (and this is already a good bedding familiar to them), and hedgehogs and other living creatures will be able to hibernate again. Such a situation with the weather for animals leads to an extra consumption of vital resources, and it is possible that a few more weeks of warmth, and then a frosty February - and we will study ordinary prickly hedgehogs in two years from the Red Book.
... garden plants
Alexander Khaburgaev, HEAD OF THE HEADING "YOUR PALISADE":
First of all, stone fruits can suffer, in which flowers appear earlier than leaves: cherries, plums, steppe almonds, apricots. If in two weeks frosts suddenly break out, then we will be left without their fruits and berries. There is a big risk of being left without garden strawberries (strawberries).
...winter
Vladimir Dolgodvorov, PROFESSOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF PLANT PRODUCTION OF THE AGRICULTURAL ACADEMY NAMED AFTER N.I. Timiryazev:
If such weather persists, then nothing threatens winter crops. But if frost suddenly hits below minus 10 degrees, then most likely the future crop will die. At the current temperature, winter crops are already starting to grow, their hardening process is sharply reduced. Therefore, a more or less smooth transition to the frosty winter familiar in our latitudes is desirable for them. But heavy snow is also undesirable. Plants just sopreet under a white cover. In any case, if winter crops manage to survive the warm winter, they will need to be plentifully fed with nitrogen fertilizers. Because they will eat the accumulated substances now.
...and people
Arina Liss, CANDIDATE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES:
From the current gloomy and snowless winter, people who are not very healthy, as well as the elderly, are the first to suffer. After all, many of them also "work" as barometers - atmospheric anomalies are not visible to the eye, but are well felt by the cardiovascular system, and therefore by the brain. It is also uncomfortable for those prone to depression, the neuropsychic state of many of which already today leaves much to be desired. So much time with virtually no sun is difficult to endure even for absolutely healthy people.
Where it’s not worth building a family house “for centuries” and buying a place in a cemetery in advance: cities and countries that will go under water as a result of climate change on Earth
Scientists from the world's leading scientific centers For many years they have been trying to predict the consequences of global warming. The worst of them is the melting of glaciers, which will lead to an increase in the water level in the world ocean and, as a result, the flooding of a number of territories, including large cities.
The numbers are different every year - some say that in a few decades almost half of modern megacities will go under water.
Others are sure that neither we nor our children and grandchildren have anything to fear - humanity will feel serious consequences only after hundreds of years. And yet the fear of the new flood every year becomes more and more real - remember at least a large-scale flood in Europe, a flood in Far East and the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in New York.
Forecast by researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Research climate change(Germany) says: by 2100 the level of the World Ocean will rise by 0.75 - 1.5 meters due to the melting of continental ice.
In this case, in 100 years Venice will go under water, in another 50 (by 2150) - Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Hamburg, St. Petersburg, and there to others major metropolitan areas near.
But Russia, in this case, is threatened not so much by water as by refugees from other countries - according to scientists, if the water rises by a meter, 72 million Chinese will be forced to change their place of residence. And where do they flee, if not to Russia, what do you think?
The forecast of Russian scientists was set out in the Climate Doctrine adopted by the Government and is perhaps the most optimistic in the world. However, the minister natural resources Russian Federation Yuri Trutnev, presenting the draft document, said that there is a real threat to our cities already in the 100-year perspective.
Over the previous century, the water level rose by 10 cm, while with an increase in the ocean level by the same amount, by 2050-2070, a significant part of the territory of St. Petersburg and almost the entire Yamal may be flooded. With a growth of 20 cm, parts of the Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions and a number of other territories of the country are at risk of flooding.
The forecast of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research: the level of the world sea can rise by 1.4 meters by 2100. Scientists did not calculate the consequences for the Russians, but if our experts consider even 10 cm to be a critical figure, imagine what will happen with an increase of almost one and a half meters!
The island states will definitely go into oblivion (the Maldives in Indian Ocean or Tuvalu in the Pacific), Calcutta will be flooded, and London, New York and Shanghai will have to spend about 150 billion dollars each on flood protection (the Americans calculated this figure for themselves). 100 million Asians, 14 million Europeans will become refugees, and if the latter can still find a place for themselves in unflooded areas, then the former will most likely “flow” into Russia.
The forecast of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) turned out to be rather vague - scientists do not give exact numbers, but they say that by the end of the 21st century, the consequences of global warming will threaten flooding big cities, including St. Petersburg, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Calcutta.
Russian experts, however, commenting on the report, said that they were ready to vouch for the safety of St. Petersburg with their heads - according to their calculations, the level of the world ocean, while maintaining the current pace, will rise by 30 centimeters in 100 years, and nothing threatens the city on the Neva. I wonder why then their colleagues who wrote the national doctrine are even worried about 10 cm?
The National Geographic forecast is one of the most pessimistic. True, it is designed for an indefinite period, but the rate of glacier melting is growing from year to year, so that a thousand years may well be reduced to a couple of centuries. According to scientists, with the complete melting of glaciers, the level of the world's oceans will rise by about 65 meters, and the average temperature on the planet will increase from 14 to 26 degrees.
In this case, Florida, the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and most of California will be flooded in North America. IN Latin America Buenos Aires will go under water, as well as coastal Uruguay and Paraguay. In Europe, London, Venice, the Netherlands and most of Denmark will be destroyed by the elements.
But scientists believe that Russia will suffer most of all due to the spill of the Black and Caspian Seas. The entire Volga-Akhtuba floodplain will go under water along with Volgograd, as well as partly Astrakhan, Rostov regions and the Republic of Kalmykia. In the north of Russia, St. Petersburg, Petrozavodsk and other smaller cities will fall into the flood zone.
Usually they discuss what will happen when global warming. The ice will melt and the sea level will rise. Everyone has seen these cards - for Russia it will not be too critical. Some coastal areas will go under water, but nothing critical, such as for countries such as the Netherlands, England, etc.
For example, experts believe that global cooling will bring simply catastrophic consequences for Russia. Look here...
Global cooling will create ice dams at the mouth of the Siberian rivers, and they will block the river flows. Water from the Ob and Yenisei, not finding an outlet to the ocean, will flood the lowlands. Excess water will fill the Turan lowland, the Aral Sea will merge with the Caspian Sea, the level of which will rise by more than 80 meters. Further, water along the Kumo-Manych depression will spill into the Don. The Krasnodar Territory, part of Turkey and Bulgaria will go under water. To avoid the onset ice age, humanity needs to support the work of the main earth battery - the Gulf Stream.
This can be done in two ways: the first is to launch the eastern warm Kuroshio Current into the Arctic, the second is to pump the Gulf Stream to the north.
The climate is warming, and quite significant. Over the past century, the average temperature on the globe has risen by 0.7-0.8 degrees. Nothing like this has happened on the planet for more than two millennia. Cycles of warming and cooling have always existed on Earth. Scientists are still arguing about what causes them. Some believe that this is caused by the changing activity of the Sun, others say that it gets colder on the planet during periods when solar system passes through dust and gas accumulations, others blame the earth's axis, which constantly fluctuates and changes its angle of inclination.
Back in 1939, the Yugoslav scientist Milankovitch calculated that the Earth's climate changes in three cycles - 23,000, 41,000 and 100,000 years (they were called the Milankovitch cycles). In accordance with them, humanity is now experiencing the very heat (Great Summer), which should be replaced by cold (Great Winter). And the change will take place not millennia, and not centuries (as it is now with global warming) - it will take place in 10-15, maximum 50 years.
About what can cause a new ice age and how, in particular, Russia will change then, is described in the book of science popularizer Valery Chumakov "End of the World: Forecasts and Scenarios" (ENAS publishing house, 2010). For informational purposes, we present an excerpt from a book on global cooling.
How the Gulfstream works
The Gulf Stream is the most powerful warm current on the planet. It originates in the Gulf of Mexico, where the winds drive huge masses of water through the Yucatan Strait, and goes to the north of the Atlantic, up to the islands of Novaya Zemlya and Svalbard, overcoming about 10 thousand kilometers along the way; its width is 110-120 kilometers. The current speed reaches 10 km / h.
Salty ocean water heated near the equator, moving north, gradually releases its heat into the atmosphere. Ocean winds carry warm air to the mainland and warm coastal and island states. Reaching the very northern point, The Gulf Stream is finally cooling down. Its salt water is heavier than more fresh water Arctic Ocean. It sinks to the depths and, having turned into a deep-sea cold Labrador current, begins its return journey south to the equator. This "lowering" ensures the continuous operation of the giant thermal conveyor, which is the Gulf Stream. The "elevator" will stop, moving the flow from one current to another - the entire conveyor will also stop. Stopping will result in sharp drop average temperatures in most of the leading countries of the world - in the USA, in England, France, Germany, etc. The worst thing in this case will be Norway, here the temperature will immediately drop by 15-20 degrees.
For this stop you need in the area North Pole raise the temperature by only 1.2 degrees. Then the melting Arctic glaciers will "merge" into the Arctic Ocean with a huge mass of fresh water. cold water. Mixed with the salt water of the Gulf Stream, the fresh water will greatly lighten it and prevent it from sinking to the bottom. At the end of its journey, the current will simply disperse over the surface and, having no reverse course, will stop.
But this will not happen overnight. The shutdown process will take from 2 to 7 years, during which the Gulf Stream will increasingly shift to the south, until it closes on the cold Canary Current, which is now washing the coast West Africa. At the same time, the temperature will drop in the countries of Northern and Western Europe and on the east coast of the United States.
Halt of the Gulf Stream and a sharp cooling in Europe and in South America will become a kind of "trigger" that will launch a chain of further changes. The drop in temperature will cause the snow cover in these regions to last much longer. And since the albedo (reflectivity) of white snow is about nine times higher than the albedo black earth, then the sunlight will be reflected from it almost completely, without turning into heat. A kind of chain reaction will result, which will lead to the fact that snow will cover the ground almost all year round.
Then the process of glacial advance will begin. More precisely, leaks, because glaciers are flowing - not so slowly, their speed can reach up to 7 meters per day. The cooling of the World Ocean will lead to the fact that it will begin to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. It will be similar to the situation with champagne: the colder it is, the less gas it releases. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will greatly decrease, and since it is the main greenhouse gas, the greenhouse effect will weaken, respectively, and the temperature on the planet will continue to fall.
All this applies mainly to coastal areas. Those territories where 40% of the world's population now lives and which produce more than half of the world's product. Russia will have different problems, but not less. A group of Russian scientists led by Valery Karnaukhov, Deputy Director of the Institute of Cell Biophysics (Pushchino), on the instructions of the Russian Emergencies Ministry in April 2000 calculated the scenario according to which events would develop in our country.
Russian sea
So, the Gulf Stream stopped, warm water does not enter the Arctic, and soon a huge ice dam forms along the northern coast of Russia. Large Siberian rivers rest against this dam: Yenisei, Lena, Ob, etc. After the formation of the Siberian ice dam, ice jams on the rivers will become more and more powerful, and spills - more and more extensive.
In the early 1950s, the USSR developed a project to create the West Siberian Sea. Huge dams were supposed to block the currents of the Ob and Yenisei at the exit to the ocean. As a result, the entire West Siberian lowland would have been flooded, the country would have received the world's largest Severo-Obskaya hydroelectric power station, and the evaporation of the new sea, comparable in area to the Mediterranean, should have greatly softened the sharply continental Siberian climate. However, the largest oil reserves were found in the territory that was subject to flooding, and the “seabuilding” had to be postponed.
(What happened to the temperature in the northern hemisphere over the past million years)
Now, what man could not do, nature will do. Only the ice dam will be larger than the one they were going to build. Consequently, the spill will be larger. Ice dams will finally block river flows over time. Water from the Ob and Yenisei, not finding an outlet to the ocean, will flood the lowlands. The water level in the new sea will rise until it reaches 130 meters. After that, through the Turgai hollow, located in the eastern part Ural mountains will begin to flow to Europe. The resulting stream will wash away a 40-meter layer of soil and expose the granite bottom of the hollow. As the channel expands and deepens, the level of the young sea will fall and fall to 90 meters.
Excess water will fill the Turan lowland, the Aral Sea will merge with the Caspian Sea, the level of which will rise by more than 80 meters. Further, water along the Kumo-Manych depression will spill into the Don. And these will be the great Siberian rivers Ob and Yenisei completely turned towards Europe. All the Central Asian republics will be under water, and the Don itself will turn into the most full-flowing river in the world, next to which the Amazon and Amur will look like streams. The width of the stream will reach 50 kilometers or more. The level of the Sea of Azov will rise so much that it will flood the Crimean peninsula and merge with the Black Sea. Further, the water will go through the Bosphorus to the Mediterranean Sea, but the Bosphorus will not cope with such volumes. The Krasnodar Territory, part of Turkey and almost all of Bulgaria will go under water.
Scientists allocate 50-70 years for everything. By this time, the northern part of Russia, the Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, almost all of Great Britain, most of Germany and France will already be covered in ice.
"Atlantis" on the path of a warm current
There are other scenarios, for example, proposed by Russian scientist Nikolai Zharvin. He and his supporters believe that the change of epochs of glaciation and warming does not occur at all because the amount of heat received by it increases or decreases. According to their theory, these giant cataclysms are caused by vertical oscillations of the two largest lithospheric plates - the North American and the North Eurasian.
The Gulf Stream 8 thousand years ago did not reach the north of Europe and America. His path was blocked by a rather extensive island, the size of Greenland. Resting against it, the current turned away and warmed not Scandinavia, as it is now, but the already warm Gibraltar. The lack of heat led to the fact that the surface of the continents already beyond the 50th parallel (the southern border of Great Britain) was covered with a layer of ice. It is believed that the ice reserve of the same Greenland was then three times more than today. Due to the fact that the mass of water accumulated in the northern glaciers, the level of the World Ocean was lower than today by 150 meters. It was during this period that people settled a lot of islands now cut off from each other, and maybe even moved from Europe to America on dry land.
The pressure of the Greenland ice on the North American plate led to the fact that, unable to withstand the load, it broke and dropped sharply into the planet, into the magma layer. This was accompanied by a monstrous earthquake and a series of powerful volcanic eruptions. When everything calmed down, it turned out that the island blocking the way to the Gulf Stream was gone. The fault went right through him, and he just plunged into the ocean depths to more than a kilometer deep. Some time later, people, remembering this fertile land washed by the tropical current, will call it Atlantis and will remember it as a lost earthly paradise.
The Gulf Stream, now not encountering any obstacles on its way, broke through to the north and began its stormy climate-forming activity there. Gradually, the Arctic warmed up and freed itself from the accumulated excess ice. Now Greenland's reserves are only a third of what it used to be - 2.7 million cubic meters. km. And this would be normal if stocks were not depleted at an ever-increasing rate. Glaciers in North America lose up to 10 meters in height per year. When their mass drops to a critical one, a new rupture will occur and the North American plate will rush upward for about a kilometer, again revealing Atlantis to the world. Supporters of Jarvin called the future cataclysm "Icelandic steam explosion".
Masses of water vapor, escaping through the formed cracks into the atmosphere, will cover the planet with a dense layer of rain clouds, from which truly biblical rain will pour down on the Earth. Trillions of tons of water will fall on the continents, which will lead to the flooding of all lowland and flat areas. An earthquake will spawn a series powerful tsunami that will simply wash away all coastal European and American cities. And the Gulf Stream, having again met Atlantis that has emerged from the abyss, will go south, giving rise to a new ice age.
Salvation - dam across the Bering Strait
What is the recipe for salvation - how to help the Gulf Stream? In order to avoid the onset of the ice age or to delay its arrival, humanity needs to support the work of the main earth battery - the Gulf Stream. This can be done in two ways: the first is to launch the eastern warm salty Kuroshio Current into the Arctic, the second is to pump the Gulf Stream to the north.
In 1891, the great explorer of the Arctic, Fridtjof Nansen, proposed to the Russian government that the Bering Strait be widened and deepened in order to facilitate access to the Arctic Ocean, which was rather powerful but limited in space, Kuroshio. As a result, the climate of the Arctic would become much milder, and the navigation of the Northern Sea Route would increase significantly.
In the early 1960s, projects for warming the Arctic began to take on real features. In 1962 Soviet engineer P. Borisov proposed to build a giant dam across the Bering Strait. The pumping units located in it were supposed to pump 140 thousand cubic kilometers of water from the Arctic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean per year. The resulting shortage in the Arctic Ocean would be replenished by “drawing in” the warm currents of the Atlantic. So the Gulf Stream could reach the mouth of the Yenisei, where the Greenland glaciers would no longer spoil it.
If the plan is implemented Soviet Union would reduce the cost of mining in Siberia by an order of magnitude, would make the richest oil and gas-bearing regions of the country more livable and would receive an almost year-round shipping route from Europe to Asia - not bypassing, through the Suez Canal, but almost directly - through Arctic Ocean.
The idea of the Bering waterworks was so popular in the 1960s that drawings of the dam were even printed in the Children's Encyclopedia, and its sketches were on matchboxes.
However, the military intervened. The main bases of the Soviet nuclear submarine fleet were located in the North, and it was not at all necessary that trade caravans roamed in these strategically important areas all year round. The project of "warming" Russia was closed.
sources
Within two years of the pole shift, due to the melting of the Antarctic ice cap, ocean levels will rise by 200 meters. The map covers not only Western Europe, but also the European part of Russia. The flood area is shown in blue. Changes on the map of Europe will be almost the most rapid and dramatic. After the failure of the tectonic plate, the entire north of the mainland will go under water. In place of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark, only a handful of islands will remain. Most of the UK from Scotland to the English Channel will also sink, and the kingdom with the remnants of London and Birmingham will be located on small islands resembling modern Scottish ones. Almost all of Ireland will disappear. Almost all of Central Europe from the Mediterranean to the Baltic Sea will go under water. From the whole of France there will be a small island with Paris in the center. Between him and Switzerland will lie a new waterway from Geneva to Zurich. A third of Spain, the western and southern parts of Portugal will disappear from the face of the earth. Three-quarters of Italy will also go under water: Venice, Naples, Rome and Genoa will sink, but the Vatican will be saved - the city will be transferred to elevated land areas. New lands will appear from Sicily to Sardinia. The Black Sea will flood Bulgaria and Romania. Part of western Turkey will disappear under water: new coastline will stretch from Cyprus to Istanbul. The former Soviet Union will be separated from Europe by a huge sea - the result of the confluence of the Caspian, Black, Kara and Baltic seas. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (except for the southernmost part) will drown in it. Divided almost in the middle by an island-ridge of the Ural Mountains, it will cover the entire European territory of Russia and Siberia up to the Yenisei. Under the water column will be: Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan (except for one third in the southeast); Uzbekistan (except the southeastern quarter); western Kazakhstan (only islands of the northern and part of the eastern territories will remain). From Belarus there will be a small eastern section, and from Ukraine - part of the northeastern tip. Lake Balkhash will increase to the size of the state of Colorado, and Lake Baikal to the size of Great Britain. The east of Russia will remain almost untouched, but a huge body of water will appear here - the Laptev Sea that has spilled deep into the continent; Vast areas of the northern coast will also go under water.
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