This ocean current has huge effects on the world’s seas, and scientists are enduring blistering cold to figure it out

Chris Kreymborg

• The North Icelandic Jet is a ribbon of cold water deep below the surface of the North Atlantic and is a key part of the global ocean circulatory system.
• If conditions get extreme enough to slow down or potentially halt the global circulation caused by the North Icelandic Jet, there could be some incredible impacts to civilization.
• Bob Pickart, a physical oceanographer from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, traveled to Ísafjörður, Iceland, to brace some of the worst weather imaginable and gather data on the North Icelandic Jet’s potential impact on the world. 

It’s an obscure ocean current in a remote part of the world. But what happens to it as the planet and the oceans warm up could affect the lives of people everywhere.

That’s why Bob Pickart, a physical oceanographer from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution on Cape Cod, traveled to Ísafjörður, Iceland, in the middle of the harsh North Atlantic winter, planning to head into the teeth of some of the worst weather imaginable.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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