Do melting polar ice caps affect the North Atlantic Current?

Answer 1

The overall effect of global warming is a steady proportionate increase of temperature throughout the earth in direct response to the steady increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As the earth warms, the polar caps will inexorably melt into fresh water that will flow into the oceans. As the ice sheets in-and-around Greenland melt, and break apart, the North Atlantic Ocean will experience an incremental increase of fresh water content, which will affect the overall salinity of the ocean's water. The North Atlantic current, which brings warmth, flowing west, to the North American continent, is dependent upon a delicate balance of salinity. When this delicate balance is disrupted by a great increase in fresh water, an oceanographic shift in ocean current would probably cause the North American continent to have a climate shift, from warm to very cold. It's actually going to be an inevitable process of trial and error, since an earlier ice-age on the earth occurred before the advent of recorded history. So, not even the most astute climatologist knows exactly what is going to result from a disruption of the earth's delicate environmental balance. But we know that it's not going be good, whatever it's going to be.