'Nuclear reactor' aids mild climate
Updated on 12 August 2007
A "nuclear reactor" one mile beneath the Atlantic ocean helps to maintain Britain's mild climate, scientists have discovered.
The Mid-Atlantic Ridge, an undersea mountain range that crosses the centre of the Atlantic, is one of the most turbulent places on Earth.
Researchers found that water surges through its narrow passages with an energy of five million watts - equivalent to the output of a small nuclear reactor.
The currents mix icy cold water from the ocean bottom with warmer water from the surface, said the scientists. This in turn helped control the strength of the Gulf Stream, which keeps Britain warm.
Without the Gulf Stream, Britain would be as cold as Labrador in Canada, which is the same distance from the equator.
Scientists from the US and France measured ocean floor turbulence at a location close to the Azores using an instrument fitted with special sensors. The islands are formed from a part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge which rises above the ocean surface.
An energy level of one tenth of a watt per cubic metre of seawater was recorded in the undersea passage where the measurements were made.
"This is a huge amount of energy when you add all the seaweater in the passage, equal to around five million watts, which is comparable to the output from a nuclear reactor," said Dr Louis St Laurent, one of the researchers from Florida State University in Tallahassee, US.
He compared the flow of seawater through underwater gullies in the Mid-Atlantic Ridge to wind gusting between tall buildings or mountain sides on land.
He said the work should result in better models for predicting how oceans affect the climate and understanding events that shape weather patterns, such as El Nino.
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