Week 5 Discussion Spark

14 hours agoAccess the profile card for user: Tabatha HamptonTabatha Hampton RE: Week 5 Discussion SparkCOLLAPSETop of FormThe global oceanic conveyor belt is a unifying concept that connects the ocean's surface and thermohaline circulations, transporting heat and salt on planetary scale. The conveyor belt system is thought to start near Greenland and Iceland in the North Atlantic where dry, cold winds blow in from northern Canada's chill surface waters. Combing the chill surface waters, evaporation, and sea-ice formation produces cold, salty North Atlantic Deep Water (NAWD). As newly formed NAWD sinks and flows south towards the continental slope of North and South America toward Antarctica where the mass then flows eastward around the Antarctic continent. the NAWD then mixes with the Arctic waters resulting in Common Water, also known as Antarctic Circumpolar water. Continued operation of the oceanic conveyor belt is important to northern Europe's modern climate because the northward transportation of heat in the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Current. The system can weaken or shut down if the North Atlantic surface water salinity drops too low, which allows the formation of deep ocean water masses. The last time a deep ocean mass happened was during the