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Along their path the currents continuously give their heat to the atmosphere and are so the main reason for the mild climate of Europe. The cooling of the water makes it so dense that it mixes to great depth and eventually returns as a deep and cold current flowing southward to the Atlantic. This 41 Variability of the Thennohaline Circulation (THC) a) ..... oj;. 2 Fig. 1. a) Annual mean surface temperature anomalies fonn NCAR data, relative to zonal averages. There is a 510°C wann anomaly over NW Europe and the Nordic Seas, making this area highly sensitive to changes of the northward oceanic heat transport provided through the THC (Rahmstorf et al.

L. Duhamel du Monceau, 1769-1777. Traite general des pesches. " - G. Rollefsen, 1948. Introduction to the ICES Special Scientific Meeting on Climatic Changes. It has long been known that fish stocks are affected by prevailing conditions (see quotes above), but we continue to struggle with establishing causes and processes. The effects of the changing environment on fisheries have become topical for a number of reasons. There is widespread interest in, and concern about, accelerating global change, of which declining fish stocks are perceived as a part.

Rationale About 90 % of the earth's population north oflati- its climate which is 5 - 10 degrees wanner than the tude 50 N live in Europe. This is a consequence of average for this latitude band, the largest such From WEFER ~ LAMY F, MANTOURA F (eds), 2003, Marine Science Frontiers for Europe. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York Tokyo, pp 39-60 40 Meincke et al. anomaly on earth (Fig. 1). A change or shift of our climate is thus likely to have a pronounced influence on human society. Europe's relative warmth is maintained by the poleward surface branch of the ocean thermohaline circulation (THC).