Heated discussion.I was surprised you didn't mention the effect of salinity in ocean water ("Mystery of the Missing Heat: Upper ocean has cooled slightly in recent years, despite warming climate," SN: 9/30/06, p.213). Warming climate has melted much of the glaciers, bringing fresh water into the North Atlantic. That water isn't dense enough to sink and carry on the conveyor belt conveyor belt One of various devices that provide mechanized movement of material, as in a factory. Conveyor belts are used in industrial applications and also on large farms, in warehousing and freight-handling, and in movement of raw materials. that usually brings warm currents from the tropics tropics, also called tropical zone or torrid zone, all the land and water of the earth situated between the Tropic of Cancer at lat. 23 1-2°N and the Tropic of Capricorn at lat. 23 1-2°S. . This slowing of the conveyor belt happened during the Little Ice Age, and apparently, it's happening again. BELLA C. CHIU CHIU Conference of Heads of Irish Universities , ARLINGTON, MASS. Isn't it likely that the accelerated breakup of polar ice holds the key to the missing heat? Massive amounts of heat are absorbed by the solid-to-liquid phase change when ice melts, and recent observations have shown a striking reduction of ice thickness. DAVID ROPER, GRAND JUNCTION, COLO Colo Colorado (old style state abbreviation) COLO Columbus, Ohio COLO Co-Location COLO Colonial National Historic Park (US National Park Service) COLO Cost Of Living Option . Perhaps the heat is going into the atmosphere and is the origin of what we measure as "global warming." PAUL ETZLER, CEDAR CITY, UTAH Cedar City is a city located in Iron County, Utah, 250 miles south of Salt Lake City on Interstate 15. It is the home of Southern Utah University, the Utah Shakespearean Festival, the Neil Simon Theatre Festival, the Utah Summer Games, and other events. As far as scientists can tell, top-layer cooling of the world's oceans isn't an effect of melting in the polar regions. Some of the heat may be warming the atmosphere, scientists say. However; much of the missing heat remains unaccounted for.--S. PERKINS |
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