[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 11 (Tuesday, February 3, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H279]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             POTENTIAL CLIMATE CHANGE DUE TO EARTH WARMING

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Gilchrest) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GILCHREST. Mr. Speaker, I would like to spend just a couple of 
minutes discussing facts about the potential for climate change. Is 
there such a thing as climate change? Is the earth warming?
  On the perspective of climate change and whether or not there is 
global warming, tonight I would like to discuss the oceans, which make 
up about 70 percent of the earth's surface. The ocean has a huge 
moderating effect on the heat balance of the planet. As the oceans 
affect our climate, they move in currents around the globe and bring 
either cold water or warm water to different areas. And that effect has 
this immense balancing of the heat on the planet. And we have 
experienced fairly moderate temperatures for hundreds of years.
  We all know that the climate does change periodically. We have had 
Ice Ages in the past. In the past there have been plants growing in the 
area we now call the Antarctic. So climate does change over a period of 
time. There is some indication, though, that when the climate has 
changed in the past, it has changed quickly, sometimes dramatically, 
without human intervention.
  What I would like to speak to tonight is human activity causing the 
ocean surface temperature to rise. A number of scientists who have 
written a number of articles recently have shown clear evidence that in 
the last 40 years, ocean temperatures around the globe on their surface 
have increased rather dramatically.
  As a matter of fact, the increase in the last 40 years can be 
compared to the increase in the last 1,000 years. Now, there are 
certain things that cause the ocean to move. We know wind causes it to 
move, the temperature of the water will cause it to move, the salinity 
of the ocean will cause certain movements, the rotation of the earth, 
evaporation and precipitation. These are all effects that cause the 
ocean to move. But since the ocean temperature is warming, there is 
more evaporation around the equatorial regions because the ocean is 
warming more there than has been in recent times. As a result of that, 
there is more precipitation in the northern part of our oceans.
  Ocean currents, then, which are affected by these conditions, whether 
it is wind, temperature, salinity and so on, the ocean currents are 
having a tendency to move differently. Ocean currents have a dynamic 
impact on the climate balance of the planet because it moves warm 
water, thus the weather, or a change of weather, to different parts of 
the planet.
  For example, England is on the same latitude as Labrador, but England 
has a much warmer climate than Labrador. Part of this is because of 
ocean currents moving in the Atlantic Ocean.
  If we can take the Atlantic Ocean as an example, if you look at the 
Atlantic Ocean, the currents move in a clockwise fashion. We know that 
the gulf stream moving north along the coast of the United States moves 
north. When it gets up to the area of Greenland-Iceland-Norway, it then 
moves south. This current has been going for hundreds, if not 
thousands, of years.
  The reason the current is so strong in this area is because when the 
water moves further north, it gets colder and more dense and begins to 
sink. As a result of a relationship of evaporation and precipitation, 
when it moves further north it gets saltier. When the water is cold and 
saltier it sinks fast, creating a pump that pushes the water south. 
Hence, we have a conveyer belt that keeps the north Atlantic moving in 
a clockwise motion.
  What is beginning to happen now, though, is interesting. Glaciers are 
melting, the polar ice cap is diminishing. There is greater rainfall in 
the north Atlantic. And as a result of these conditions, caused in part 
by the warming on the ocean surface, we have fresh water being a major 
part of the north Atlantic.
  Even though fresh water will sink because it is more dense, it sinks 
very slowly. The fact that you have saltwater with the cold fresh 
water, it sinks faster. Because the water is becoming fresher, less 
saltier in the north Atlantic, the pump is slowing down, which means 
the conveyer belt is slowing down, which means the warmer water that is 
moving to the northern areas from the equatorial regions of the planet 
is not moving as fast.
  So the consequence of this, the potential consequence of this, is a 
much colder area in the north Atlantic, which would mean the United 
States and that area, Asia, Europe, and Scandinavia.
  Mr. Speaker, just a couple of interesting facts about the potential 
climate change.

                          ____________________