What is the warm current in the ocean?

In the cold winter, the submarine went out for training in the East China Sea, and the soldiers working on the Gao Qiao were wrapped in winter clothes and gloves, but they were still shivering. The officers and men on duty in the cabin were also shivering with the cold air injected by the elevator.

However, when the warship sailed into a certain sea area, a miracle appeared. Warm wind blew on the sea, and the mercury column of the thermometer in the cabin went straight up. The soldiers took off their winter clothes and didn't feel cold.

In fact, the warship sailed into a warm current. This warm current is called Kuroshio. In summer, the surface water temperature reaches 30℃, and in winter, the water temperature is not lower than 20℃.

At this time, looking from the bridge, you will find that the sea is divided into two colors. The sea in the west is green and crystal clear, and the sea in the east is deep and indigo. The dividing line between green and indigo is so clear that it seems to be separated from the middle, and no one can pollute anyone. If you look down from the air by plane, you will see the Kuroshio like a black ribbon, wrapped around the blue body of the sea.

Kuroshio is the second largest warm current in the world's oceans. It is called the Kuroshio because the sea looks as blue as indigo. In fact, he is as innocent as ever. Due to the depth of seawater, the scattering of semi-light by water molecules and the action of aquatic organisms such as algae, Kuroshio looks like wearing dark clothes.

The Kuroshio originates from the northern equator, passes through the Philippines, enters the East China Sea near the eastern part of Taiwan Province Province in China, and then flows through the Ryukyu Islands along the southern part of the Japanese archipelago, ending its journey in the sea near the east longitude 142 degrees and the north latitude 35 degrees. Among them, near the Ryukyu Islands, the Kuroshio branched and came to the Yellow Sea and Bohai Bay in China. Qinhuangdao Port in Bohai Bay is not frozen in winter, which is influenced by this warm current. Its main tributary is eastward, which can be traced back to east longitude 160 degrees; Another is to go to the northeast first, join the tide and then turn east. The total distance of Kuroshio is 6000 kilometers.

Kuroshio is a powerful current. To the east of Taiwan Province Province, the flow is 280 kilometers wide and 500 meters thick, and the velocity is 1 ~ 1.5 knots (52 kilometers per hour in one section); After entering the East China Sea, although the flow width is reduced to 150 km, the speed is accelerated to 2.5 knots and the thickness is increased to 600 meters. The fastest Kuroshio is off the tidal headland of Japan, with a general speed of 4 knots, which is no less than the walking speed of human beings, and the maximum speed is 6-7 knots, which is faster than that of ordinary motor boats. The runoff of the whole Kuroshio is equal to 1000 Yangtze River.

Kuroshio is also closely related to climate. Japan's warm and humid climate benefits from Kuroshio. Qingdao, China, Tokyo, Shanghai and Kyushu are similar in latitude, but quite different in climate. When Qingdao people wear cotton-padded clothes, Tokyo people are still wearing autumn clothes; When Shanghai is already "the west wind withered the green trees last night", the subtropical plants in Kyushu are still lush green leaves. There is an agricultural proverb in Japan: "Ask the year of famine and see the change of the ocean." It's about the influence of Kuroshio on the climate. In China, some people compare the Kuroshio to a "drought and flood forecaster". Because of the shift of Kuroshio flow position, it has obvious influence on the weather drought and flood in coastal areas of China.

In 1953, the Kuroshio deviated from its orbit all the year round and moved southward about 170 km. The following year, a once-in-a-century flood occurred in the Jianghuai Valley of China.

1957 deviated from the normal track again, and the average position moved northward, resulting in severe drought in the Yangtze River basin.

1958, turning north again. Results Drought occurred again in the Yangtze River basin and waterlogging occurred in North China.

A similar situation has happened several times. Through the research of meteorologists in China, the regularity has been found.

It turns out that ocean water temperature has a direct impact on the atmosphere. According to scientists' calculations, 1 cubic centimeter of seawater can reduce the heat released at 2℃ and increase the air temperature by more than 3000 cubic centimeters. But seawater is transparent, and solar radiation can reach deeper places, so that a fairly thick water layer stores heat. If the global 100-meter-thick seawater is reduced to 1℃, the released heat energy can raise the global atmosphere by 60℃. It can be seen that a large amount of heat energy accumulated in the ocean for a long time has become a huge "hot station", and through the long-term accumulation of a large amount of heat energy, it has become a huge "hot station", which constantly affects the changes of weather and climate through energy transfer. In addition, there is an obvious temperature difference between the high temperature Kuroshio and the relatively low temperature seawater in the north, forming a strong ocean front. Through the interaction between ocean and atmosphere, the climate will change. The atmospheric front is the place where cold and warm air meet, so it is also the area of rainfall. Therefore, when the Kuroshio moved southward in 1953, the ocean front also moved southward, making the atmospheric front and rain belt move southward accordingly. In the second year, rainfall in the Jianghuai basin increased and floods occurred. 1957 and 1958, after the Kuroshio moved northward, the atmospheric front and rain belt also moved northward accordingly, resulting in the vacancy and drought of Meiyu in the Yangtze River basin.

The huge heat energy contained in the warm ocean current and its influence on the climate have attracted people's attention.

19 1 1 year, the United States Congress launched a heated debate. The content of the debate is neither the arms budget nor the presidential candidate list, but a proposal to rob the ocean current.

Why did the senator rob the present? What they want to grab is not the ordinary ocean current, but the Gulf Stream, the largest ocean warm current in the world.

The existence of the Gulf Stream has long been known. 15 13, Spanish admiral Punza de Leonie led a fleet to North America, ready to anchor at the Florida coast. Just as the sailors were busy, they suddenly found a ship in the fleet drifting north alone. People shouted and shouted, but it was useless. Admiral Leonie ordered the sailors to return to the team quickly, but a mysterious force in the ocean continued to push the drifting boat. The people on that boat had a hard time getting it back.

This phenomenon caught Leonie's attention. After investigation, it was found that there was a "river" in the sea near Florida Peninsula. This is the world-famous Gulf Stream.

Actually, this is a misunderstanding. Although part of the Gulf Stream comes from the Gulf of Mexico, most of it comes from the Caribbean. When the southern and northern equatorial currents meet in the western Atlantic Ocean, they enter the Caribbean Sea, pass through the Yucatan Strait, a small part of them enter the Gulf of Mexico, and then flow along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Most of the current turns sharply eastward and enters the Atlantic Ocean from straits of florida, USA. The Gulf of Mexico, which first entered the Atlantic Ocean, flows north, then rapidly flows northeast, crosses the Atlantic Ocean, flows to the offshore of northwest Europe and flows into the cold Arctic Ocean. Its thickness is 200 ~ 500 meters, its velocity is 2.05 meters/second, and the amount of water transported is 1.5 times that of Kuroshio.

The Gulf Stream contains a huge amount of heat, which is probably more than that generated by burning coal all over the world in one year. Because of its arrival, every 2 meters of land on both sides of the English Channel enjoys the warmth of burning 60,000 tons of coal every year. If we compare the eastern coast of Canada at the same latitude, the difference is even more obvious: the annual average temperature in eastern Canada on the other side of the Atlantic can be as low as-10℃, while in northwestern Europe at the same latitude it can be as high as 10℃.

As soon as the motion was put forward, some people applauded and some opposed it. The reason is: "once the warm current is forced to turn, after going north along the east coast of the United States, there will be an obvious pressure difference between the cold continent and the warm ocean in winter: the land is cold and the pressure rises; The sea surface is warm and the air pressure decreases. As a result, the wind blows from the land to the ocean, and the continental United States still cannot enjoy this warmth. "

As a result, this strange proposal failed to pass. More than 80 years later, the Gulf Stream still flows according to the original route.

Perhaps inspired by the proposal of the United States to seize the warm current, the idea of using the warm current to transform the earth's climate is endless.

Shumilin and borisov are engineers of the former Soviet Union. They carefully designed a huge project to mobilize the seawater between the two oceans. They suggest building a giant dam with a length of 74,000 meters and a height of 50-60 meters to cut off the Bering Strait, and then installing thousands of pumps in the dam to send seawater from the Pacific Ocean into the Arctic Ocean, thus generating a powerful warm current that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through the Arctic region. This warm current will warm the cold climate of Siberia and North America along the way. On the contrary, the seawater from the Arctic Ocean can also be pumped into the Pacific Ocean, so that the Gulf Stream of the Atlantic Ocean flows into the Pacific Ocean through the Arctic Ocean. This warm current will melt the ice floes in the Arctic Ocean and warm the vast cold areas in the north latitude.

They painted a beautiful picture for the prospect of this project: the ice and snow in the Arctic Ocean melted and became an international route that sailed unimpeded for many years. The coastline of the Arctic Ocean of the former Soviet Union of more than 4,800 kilometers has been completely thawed, and the tropics extend northward. The warm Arctic Ocean will provide mankind with extremely rich fish, shrimp and minerals. ...

American scientist Gail Hathaway has another view. He envisaged building a marine dam about 1.700 km long from Greenland to Norway, separating the Arctic Ocean from the Atlantic Ocean and preventing the Atlantic Ocean from entering the Arctic Ocean. He believes that if the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean melt the huge ice floes in the Arctic Ocean, it will lead to a tragic ice age.

Saburo Saburo, a Japanese scientist, also put forward an imaginative proposal: fill up the tatar strait with a depth of 20km and a width of10km, so as to prevent the cold current from going south from the Sea of Okhotsk, raise the sea water temperature in Japan, and make the climate in Hokkaido and northeastern Japan warmer.

It is still "on paper" to transform the ocean warm current to make the climate warm. Whether it is feasible and put into practice depends on the future development of science and technology.