Here is an interesting article from our local newspaper, mentioning
yet another `fine-tuned' feature of our world which makes life as
we know it possible. Three giant water `sinks' create millions of
cubic metres of oxygen-rich bottom water a second and a ring of
clear water around the globe which enables the Antarctic circumpolar
current to recirculate the bottom water around the globe.
Sounds like Someone set up a giant `aquarium' complete with
oxygenators and a circulation pump to enable us `goldfish' to
breathe!
It's nice to know that something `down under' here has some use!
Maybe we should start charging you folks up there for the
oxygen? :-)
Seriously, this is yet another Intelligent Design feature that we can
praise God for!
Steve
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Ice hole view of ocean's future
BY CARMELO AMALFI
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The water of life
A three dimensional cross-section of the colossal water
"sink" between Tasmania and the Antarctic continental
shelf
The Antarctic circumpolar current recirculates the bottom
water around the globe
[diagram]
Produces 1-2 million cubic metres per second of oxygen
rich water
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CSIRO [Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research
Organisation] oceanographers will arrive in Antarctica
next month to study a source of oxygen-rich water which
sustains life in the world's oceans.
Scientists say it is also critical in supplying oxygen to the
earth's atmosphere through evaporation.
Hobart scientists discovered the huge Sink" of dense
water in a giant hole in the ice between Tasmania and
Antarctica. Only five such cold spots are known-four in
Antarctica and one in the North Atlantic.
Southern Ocean expert Steve Rintoul said the 20,000 sq
km region was crucial to the chemistry and biology of the
deep ocean, producing about a quarter of the world's
bottom water.
It was called the Adelie Land 'Spolynya"-Russian for ice
hole.
Because the air temperature was up to 30C colder than
the water-as low as minus 40C with winds up to 185
km-the ocean cooled quickly.
As ice formed, salt was released, making suffice water so
heavy it sank more than 4 km to the bottom. This bottom
water was then recirculated by a global network of
currents.
"Every second of the year another one to two million
cubic metres of water sinks there," Dr Rintoul said.
He said early studies suggested most bottom water was
formed in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, but
the rest formed in the Pacific.
"Our new observations suggest that about a quarter of the
total volume of the bottom water in the world is
formed-here," he said.
Dr Rintoul said researchers from the Antarctic
cooperative research centre and CSIRO marine research
would smash their way through hundreds of kilometres of
pack ice on the icebreaker Aurora Australis, on its first
mid-winter voyage to Antarctica.
Bottom water was an important influence-on ocean
currents, he said.
Greenhouse scenarios suggested that if rain increased and
salinity decreased, the creation of bottom water might
slow or shut down, starving the ocean of oxygen and
reducing its ability to absorb carbon gases.
(Amalfi C., "Ice hole view of ocean's future," The West
Australian, June 25, 1998, p3)
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"Evolution is the greatest engine of atheism ever invented."
--- Dr. William Provine, Professor of History and Biology, Cornell University.
http://fp.bio.utk.edu/darwin/1998/slides_view/Slide_7.html
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Stephen E (Steve) Jones ,--_|\ sejones@ibm.net
3 Hawker Avenue / Oz \ Steve.Jones@health.wa.gov.au
Warwick 6024 ->*_,--\_/ Phone +61 8 9448 7439
Perth, West Australia v "Test everything." (1Thess 5:21)
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