[Infinite Worlds] Atlantis Rising

[Ed the Coastie]

Here's an odd question that I came up with last night while I was working on an alternate Technomancer-style world for one of my GURPS campaigns...

Based upon the reappearance of the island of Atlantis in the early 1940s (instead of the 1930s as depicted among the Alternate Atlantises in one of Ken Hite's Suppressed Transmission columns)...what happens to the Gulf Stream? Would it deflect enough to give Greenland (and perhaps Iceland) a more hospitable climate? Or is there some other sort of manaclysmic handwavium that I could use? I've already decided that Atlantis' reappearance gave rise to a "manaclysm" that effectivly froze technological development at the WWII level and actually has been causing a gradual regression...by the mid-1980's (the current time of this world), most military units have a "vril-shaper" or two at the company level.

[JoelSammallahti]

Originally Posted by Ed the Coastie

Based upon the reappearance of the island of Atlantis in the early 1940s (instead of the 1930s as depicted among the Alternate Atlantises in one of Ken Hite's Suppressed Transmission columns)...what happens to the Gulf Stream? Would it deflect enough to give Greenland (and perhaps Iceland) a more hospitable climate?

Well, if the Gulf Stream melted the ice in Greenland, that would raise sea levels quite noticeably. It would be quite funny for the rise of Atlantis to sink every coastal city in the world...

[tratclif]

First question: where does Atlantis rise at? If Atlantis replaces the Sargasso Sea or the Canaries, it doesn't affect the Gulf Stream directly. If it replaces the Bahamas, that's more of a problem. If the 1943 map at Wikipedia's article on the Gulf Stream is an accurate guide, most of the strength of the current hugs the coast between Florida and the Bahamas.

[DrTemp]

Originally Posted by tratclif

[...] most of the strength of the current hugs the coast between Florida and the Bahamas.

Except, maybe, for the small portion that makes Europe a good place to live in. :->

(Think about it, Hamburg is at about the lattitude of Labrador, Canada...)

[Ed the Coastie]

Well, judging from the Wikipedia map, I would need to put Atlantis at about 40N and 40W to deflect the Gulf Stream up towards Greenland. Unfortunately, this not only results in rising sea levels but also plunging much of Europe into a deep freeze.

I guess I'm stuck with some sort of psuedo-scientific technomagical handwavium, making this one of those Weird parallels that just really can't be explained.

[tratclif]

Originally Posted by DrTemp

Except, maybe, for the small portion that makes Europe a good place to live in. :->

(Think about it, Hamburg is at about the lattitude of Labrador, Canada...)

I meant "strength" in the sense of volume and speed of water flow -- the current spreads and slows after it leaves the North American coast, though it still contains a huge amount of heat.

[combatmedic]

Why not go ahead and freeze most of Europe? Might be fun.

[David Johnston]

Don't melt all of Greenland. That's too much water and besides, it's not all that likely that the Gulf Stream would keep that much heat after travelling that far north. Just melt the lower part of it. That should be enough to give you Hyperborea. You also pretty much have to assume if Atlantis is any significant size that in rising it must create new deep cavities in the ocean floor.

[Kyle Aaron]

Originally Posted by Ed the Coastie

I guess I'm stuck with some sort of psuedo-scientific technomagical handwavium, making this one of those Weird parallels that just really can't be explained.

You're already having an entire continent rise up in the middle of the Atlantic, presumably with intact cities and people, not mentioning tsunamis wiping out every Atlantic coastal city, and huge earthquakes, and... The Gulf Stream's the least of your psuedo-scientific technomagical handwavium needs :D