AAAS: "'Cold blob' of Arctic meltwater may be causing European heat waves." 'Arctic melting—from both floating sea ice and glaciers on Greenland and elsewhere—is adding roughly 6000 cubic kilometers of water or more to the ocean per decade, more than enough to fill the Grand Canyon.' But Europe ’s string of record-breaking hot and dry summers has defied an easy link to climate change. "Climate models do show Europe warming faster than the rest of the planet, but the recent scorchers were triggered by peculiar weather conditions: masses of hot, dry air parked over the continent, blocking any incursions of cool or moist relief." A new hypothesis proposes a concatenation of events begining with an infusion of meltwater from shrinking Arctic ice, which in turn alters ocean currents and regional air circulation. With stratification of the cold freshwater pouring into the North Atlantic Ocean, mixing is impaired. With less heat being stirred in from below, the surface water gets colder than usual during the fall and winter months. "Phenomenon may explain the so-called “cold blob,” a patch of sea in the North Atlantic that NASA modeling suggests is one of the few spots on Earth getting colder." When the freshwater-induced cold blobs is more intense, the result is stormier winters with more powerful westerly winds. "Stronger westerlies move a warm ocean flow called the North Atlantic Current—an extension of the Gulf Stream—northward from roughly 45°N to 60°N." And like a barrier, this warm current, curling up and around the British Isles, deflects the jet stream, allowing a mass of hot, dry air, sometimes called a high-pressure blocking system, to camp out over Europe. Drought, wildfires + heat deaths result. “The study convincingly puts meat on the bones of an expectation I and others have had for a while—that the cold blob south of Greenland would influence North Atlantic weather patterns, as well as those downstream over Europe,” says Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center. IMHO, Francis is one of the best-known + a highly credible climate scientist.