Anthropogenic, aka man-made, global warming is much in the news as of late. The media frenzy has even argued that cow farts are a global hazard and may lead us to extinction (a bit of an exaggeration, but not by much), so we should give up eating beef. However, in all of the media spin, there has not been a single word about the natural global warming cycles which have been triggered by man-made global warming. I often refer to one of these self-reinforcing cycles, the release of methane in the Arctic, but there is another that may prove to be even more powerful. It is a complicated natural warming process, so stay with me.
Man-made global warming is primarily driven by the burning of fossil fuels — oil, gas, and coal. Global average air temperatures have slowly increased, and it is only recently that scientific research has shown that global ocean water temperatures have also increased. Even more recently, researchers have come to learn that the ocean water temperatures have increased to sufficient degree, that a natural, self-reinforcing global warming process has been triggered in Antarctica. This new cycle will cause a further ongoing warming of the world’s ocean water temperatures, independent of the man-made global warming factors.
Scientific researchers have discovered that the ocean water temperature surrounding Antarctica have warmed to a sufficient degree to melt the Antarctica ‘land ice’ (though it is called land ice, the land on which much of the ice sits on is below sea level). The melting of the land ice has been significant, and the fresh water flowing into the surrounding ocean has created a ‘lid’, a layer of fresher water (i.e. low salinity water) within the ocean, that has hindered ‘ocean mixing’, which is a crucial process by which the warmer water which flows down to Antarctica is cooled before it flows back northward. Indeed, a separate research group has found that Antarctica ‘bottom water’ (the cooled water that typically flows northward after ocean mixing) has decreased by as much as 40%. This means that the water flowing back northward from Antarctica is now much warmer. The results of this new natural warming process is very much evident, by looking at how much warmer the northern Pacific Ocean currently is, verses the historic averages. In particular, there is a growing patch of warm ocean water off the north California coast, referred to as ‘the blob’. This growing area of warm water appeared around the same time that the California drought started, and like the ‘blob’ in the 70’s horror film, the blob of warm ocean water continues to grow in size. Though the scientists have not yet been able to make a verifiable connect between the growing blob of warm water and the reduced ocean mixing in Antarctica, it is most certainly connected (prophecies in Revelation helps us fill in the current gaps in scientific certainty). If the ‘blob’ off the California coast is indeed the result of the warmer water flowing northward from Antarctica, the implications are immense.
The first implication is that the ‘blob’, the area of extremely warm water, will continue to grow in size — and like the movie, if a way is not found to ‘freeze’ the blob, it will not stop growing. The second implication is that this natural source of global warming is a self-reinforcing process. Man-made global warming heated the world’s oceans to the point where it started to melt the land based ice in Antarctica. This in turn resulted in the formation of a fresh(er) water (i.e. low salinity water) layer under the surface of the water in the Antarctica region, which is inhibiting the ocean mixing necessary to cool down the warm ocean currents flowing down from the north. As a result, there has been a dramatic reduction in the cold water that normally flows back north (aka Antarctic bottom water). This means that in addition to ocean water warming from higher air temperatures (from global warming), the ocean water is being further warmed by the breakdown of ocean mixing in Antarctica — which will result in the water surrounding Antartica to warm further. The self-reinforcing circle is complete as the growing layer of low salinity water in Antarctica will then further impede ocean mixing, resulting in a further reduction of Antartica bottom water flowing northward.
The last time ocean mixing in Antarctica stopped totally was in the Permian era, where the oceans became so warm that most marine life died, causing one of the great extinction events in the history of the world. The blob of extremely warm water off the coast of California is the main driver behind a massive red tide bloom, hundreds of miles wide, hundreds of miles wide, and 700 feet deep. This harmful algae bloom has not disapated, as most do, as the source of warm ocean water responsible for the bloom, has not disapperaed — but rather is growing in size.
This leads us to the third implication of this natural source of global warming — just as the blob will continue to grow in size, being fed by the warmer ocean water flowing northward from Antarctica, the monsterous red tide algae bloom will also grow in size. Revelation tells us that world’s oceans will heat up enough to cause a red tide bloom that will cover 1/3 of the world’s oceans.
Most global warming forecast models are based only on man made global warming factors, and are fairly linear in nature. We can see that the inclusion of natural global warming self-reinforcing cycles, such as methane release in the Arctic and the major reduction of ocean mixing in Antarctica, will serve to accelerate global warming significantly. What gives us confidence in our argument is that our timeline for the return of Christ means that the severe manifestations of global warming, which will be the manifestations of the prophecies in Revelation, must occur within the next 10-20 years at the latest. This represents an unimaginable quickening of the global warming process.
To some, this mixture of religion and science may seem strange (perhaps more colorful adjectives come to mind). However, with faith and belief that the words of Revelation reveals to us the events that will precede the return of Christ to this world, then we can look upon the world in which we live and see the signs of Revelation — and we can see how the present links to the future, as described in Revelation.
Decreasing Antarctica bottom water
http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/2014/03/04/mystery-of-antarctic-bottom-water-solved/
Increasing ocean temperatures
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201507