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Warm Water the Reason for Cold Winters?

Apr 4, 2011; 9:36 AM ET

Interesting study about the influence of warmer ocean water on winter temperatures.

Winters in northern Europe and over the Pacific Northwest are normally several degrees warmer on average compared to those in the Northeast U.S., eastern Canada and northeastern Asia.

Conventional explanation for one of these differences in temperature has been the fact that the Gulf Stream, which is shown in orange off the U.S. East Coast below, delivers warm water from the Gulf of Mexico all the way to northern Europe, making that region noticeably warmer in the winter compared to the Northeast U.S. and eastern Canada.

However, research from 2002 concluded that warm ocean currents can only contribute up to 10% of the warming.

So what is the reason for the big difference in winter temperatures?

According to researchers from CalTech, its the fact that the warm waters off the Northeast U.S., eastern Canada and northeast Asia coasts is actually causing these regions to run colder, which is the main reason for the temperature difference.

The researchers found that the warm water off an eastern coast will heat the air above it and lead to the formation of atmospheric waves, drawing cold air from the northern polar region. The cold air forms a plume just to the west of the warm water. In the case of the Atlantic Ocean, this means the frigid air ends up right over the northeastern United States and eastern Canada, according to Eurekalert.

Latest global sea surface temperatures.

"It's not that the warm Gulf Stream waters substantially heat up Europe," says Yohai Kaspi, a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech. "But the existence of the Gulf Stream near the U.S. coast is causing the cooling of the northeastern United States."

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