CRITICAL!!! :  If there was no POLAR WINDS and the SALINITY DEPTH profile of the ATLANTIC OCEAN was uniform?
544439
Yes, it is still possible. Infact, what you are describing are the beginning stages of an ice age. For more information I suggest you look up the Geophysical Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. For a brief picture:\nAs global temperatures rise, polar ice melts and ocean temperatures rise. As the ocean temperatures rise the North Atlantic and North Pacific drifts cease to flow, which helps maintain uniform salinity (as both are actually FRESH WATER streams in the ocean). When this happens, the northern most latitudes are no longer warmed and rapid cooling begins, which in turn leads us through an ice age. When the reverse happens, we come out of an ice age and the cycle begins anew.
452179
Latitude, Ocean currents, Winds, Elevation, Relief and Nearness to water.
397922
Salinity is a deterrent, not a catalyst for ice crystallization. Thus, the water would have to be below 32 degrees, how far below depends on the salinity of the water. The more salt, the lower the temperature has to be. Since the salinity of ocean water varies around the world, even within short distances because of underwater currents and other factors, ice formation at 28.58 degrees is possible but far from guaranteed. I hope this helps.
64688
How salty the ocean is, however, defies ordinary comprehension. Some scientists estimate that the oceans contain as much as 50 quadrillion tons (50 million billion tons) of dissolved solids.\nIf the salt in the sea could be removed and spread evenly over the Earth's land surface it would form a layer more than 500 feet thick, about the height of a 40-story office building.
1016975
Ocean currents in the northern hemisphere go clockwise.\nAs the current starts from it southern most point (i.e. near the equator), it is a warm ocean current. It will travel as a warm current along the east coast of the continent to its west side. As the current continues to move clockwise it will move across the ocean towards its most northern part. It is still technically a warm water current until it begins to travel southward along the west coast of the eastern continent.\nAn example would be the North Atlantic Ocean Gyre. It starts north of the equator, moves up towards the Caribbean and US East Coast (the Gulf Stream) and then travels eastward across the Atlantic to England. At this point it is still considered a warm ocean current because of its temp relative to the surrounding waters. As the current begins to move southward along the western European coast it becomes a cold ocean current until it gets back to along the equator.\nIn the southern hemisphere it is just the opposite! \nBut maybe a simpler answer would have been by looking at a currents temperature RELATIVE to surrounding bodies of water, but that is not as precise as the answer given above.\nHope this helps.
672515
Its not really important.\n\nThey're saying that someday the earth could heat up enough to melt the north and south poles and burry us all in water.  The sea is currently rising at a rate of like a half inch each year.  However, climet changes all of the time and so the greenhouse effect isn't necessarily a concern.
952364
Are you thinking of the Sargasso Sea?\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargasso_Sea
686229
It would be nothing at all...neither, warm neither cold, windy and not windy...it would be like limbo...
1061323
I'm surely not an expert in this, but I'll tell you what I know.\nThe salinity of ocean water varies from place to place. The oceans that surround the polar regions are less salty than the Persian Gulf areas. Also where rivers and streams empty into the ocean, that area tends to be less salty than the open ocean.\nSalinity is reported in terms of parts per thousand ( 0/00 ).\nSalt content in ocean water ranges from .5 0/00 to 40 0/00.\nThe average ocean salinity is 35 0/00. \nI had an ocean map which showed salt content of the world oceans, but cannot find it. I know this would have been a great help answering your question.  What I do remember of it is, that most major oceans had a salt content that ranged between 32 0/00 and 35 0/00.\n32 0/00 being close to islands and continents and 35 0/00 was recorded surrounding the center of the major oceans.\nI'm sure I did not answer your question completely, but I hope I helped?
1020525
Salinity will decrease a bit, but it won't be very significant.  \n\nLower salinity fish might move out of their environments and colonize other parts of the oceans.
283532
Man_with_a_Plan has no proof that there is no proof. His statement that no theories are sound or have proof is just his opinion and purely speculatory. There is no proof.\n\nI, on the other hand, like the "Murder on the Orient Express Theory". I think that there was huge changes in ocean circulation due to the continents coming together WELL BEFORE Pangaea formed. The geologic evidence suggests that the extinction happened in different places around the world at different times, which suggests that no single event is responsible. I believe that cooling events like plume volcanism in the Siberian traps coupled with warming events like methane hydrate release and greenhouse effect along with the continental positioning at the time may have worked together to cause extreme changes in ocean circulation at various parts of the world at different times, attributing to the extinction event.\n\nVariations in temperature due to greenhouse warming and on/off sulphide cooling would have had the greatest immediate impact on planktic (ocean surface) and shallow water organisms. I also think that ocean circulation was also greatly affected not only by the temperature variations but also the circumstantial orientation of the continents. Heat transport to the north would have been innefficient and consequently northern regions would have been subject to extreme cooling, even at relatively low latitudes. In the southern regions there would have been a huge temperature gradient between top and bottom waters. If this was enough to stop deep water formation and ocean turnover, benthic (bottom dwelling) species would have been destroyed by the lack of oxygen and intermediate to surface water species would have suffered from a lack of nutrients. Because most of the Earth's life at the time was in the water, I am quite sure that it was likely some change in ocean circulation that dealt the fatal blows to life. Obviously good carbon isotope data from the period would be needed to verify this hypothesis. \n\nLife on land would have suffered greatly by climate changes induced by changes in ocean circulation, as well as the extreme variations in temperature. Tropical species would have been devastated by cooling events caused by the plume volcanism.\n\nThere is lots of proof for everything; there just is no definite information that can, as of yet, say for sure exactly how it all happened. That's a tough thing to do, but I really dislike people who refute the claims of others without presenting any evidence themselves.
980032
pacific ocean and atlantic ocean\n\n:> peace\n.
158282
Don't think there is one ... there is no major landmass interfering with the levels like there is between the Pacific and the Atlantic
186059
Climate would change dramatically due to the shift in solar energy focus from a loss of seasonal influence. The much more interesting point is the loss of magnetism, because the rotation center of the earth cannot parallel that of the magnetoshere and maintain magnetism. \n\nAtmospheric mixing would be different, global winds may change to more closely represent those observed on Jupiter, with banding rather than Rosby waves. Ocean currents begin to shift with wind pattern changes, species change migration routes, continental climates become more severe, and icing more prominent in the polar regions, shifting the balance of water storage and available energy absorption in lower latitudes. \n\nThink of an Antarctica on both poles with summer temps all the time within the lower 30 N and S. The reemergence of glaciers observed. Populations move to the equatorial regions. Economies change, agricultural production would be reduced, and fresh water supplies dwindle.
920554
That would be a cold (or at least cool), dry mass of air that originated over a large region of land near the north pole.  (Not over an ocean, unless it was the Arctic Ocean, which is covered by ice.)
406805
I think what you mean is, if we had to draw lines differentiating the different oceans and bodies of water, where would we draw these lines? \n\nUnfortunately, I dont think there is any real correct answer.\nThese boundaries are kind of ambiguous and flowing....just like the oceans themselvess! Oceans aren't like countries, which have set boundaries established by wars and treaties, etc. Oceans flow into each other and are all connected. The best we can do is approximate. \n\nGood question, though.
351775
People knew the Earth was round for as long as there were sailors; it's a common myth that they thought they'd fall off the edge of the world when sea-fairing folks could easily see ships slowly descend over the horizon rather than suddenly just plain vanishing.\n\nIt's really just a straw man arguement that's really taken on a life of its own. Don't buy into it, even if our educational system even falls for it on Christopher Columbus day. *L*