So I have just started a new job working the bar @TheLongBar Brixham. This is convenient for two reasons, one is shelter the other is obvious. The reason shelter is so important is that due to sudden stratospheric warming over the North Pole. The Gulf Stream which gives these fair isles their temperate climate has stalled letting the freezing Polar winds to descend battering the South West with snow storms the like of which have not been seen in living memory. This type of weather is certainly at odds with life on a small boat. My previous blog talked about chopping the deck of the boat out. Safe to say that was not repaired before the storm so I had to endure two nights of gale force winds and snow with no hatch and half the deck missing. Safe to say the tarpaulin I had set up did nothing to keep the weather at bay. So having spent two of the coldest nights of my life I have had looked into the ins and outs of what's causing this weather.
The sudden stratospheric warming (SSC) has caused a shift in air pressure between Iceland and the Atlantic Azores Islands near Bermuda.
The impact on the so-called North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Arctic Oscillation (AO) helps cold easterly winds replace mild westerlies.
Pressure rises across a semi-permanent region of low pressure over Iceland while the Bermuda high weakens throwing both the NAO and the AO into a negative ‘cold phase’.
The SSW has seen a sudden jump up in temperatures in the upper atmosphere and this disrupts the jet-stream to bring the onset of cold and snow to our shores over the coming days and weeks.
The SSW also has an impact on a more negative trending Arctic (AO) and North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).
We expect the trending of these oscillations to be largely negative between now and up to mid-March at the very least.
Why should this concern us?
I strongly believe we are killing this planet. On my journey I hope to look at what is happening in different countries to counter this serious threat. If warm winds are allowed to circulate in polar regions then this can only accelerate the already unacceptable rate of melting of the ice caps. We need to look at the way we all live our lives and the way we travel the planet. On Sylmara I aim to leave the smallest carbon footprint possible. I would submit that if a penniless adventurer is capable of making the voyages I intend to make without reliance on fossil fuels then perhaps the corporations and governments can start to think. They might reassess how they do things. When I see super yachts like the Maltese Falcon I think what if the cargo ships which carry our goods could adopt this technology. What if rather than destructive coal and nuclear power we could harness wind and tide. The time to do something is now not tomorrow the answers are here and have been for some time when will the money men realise there is no point being rich if the planet dies I doubt Mars has a Bahamas.
Fair winds and good sailing...
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