[Coral-List] Basic Question. Simple Answer ?

[Michael Risk]

For those who would wish to delve further into the murky crystal ball
of what well may be our immediate future:

The Second Deep-water Coral Congress was last fall, in Erlangen
Germany. The papers may be accessed either through the Congress website
or Andre Freiwald's. Of interest to the present thread:

Owen Sherwood presented a 100-year record of the NAO, which
controls/influences NADW formation and the direction/strength of the
Gulf Stream. (Pushing the record back a few more centuries is "only" a
matter of acquiring samples). And yes, NADW formation is slowing.

Branwen Williams and Jason Hall-Spenser worked on Lophelia from the
Faroe-Shetland Trough. (Aside: there are two points in the ocean where
the Gulf Stream and the Return Flow are precisely juxtaposed: Orphan
Knoll, and the Faroe-Shetland Trough. Understand these two nodal
points, and we understand the future of Eurpoean civilization.) The
Mean Annual Temp. Range may be determined from live corals, so again
going back in time is not rocket science.

There were many other papers presented at Erlangen that would be of
interest to any ecologist, and I commend them to you.