jai, i agree. but i think that people may be misunderstanding the Hansen study (or perhaps it's because he does not explicitly come out and say what the data really means).
i think that if the anomalies he depicts turn out to verify, we may currently be in the beginning phase of a new glaciation that will rapidly kick into high gear over the next few years. the initial area this seems to be occurring in appears to be Quebec, but soon it will also be the UK, and other areas most dependent on AMOC heat transport.
see, while wintertime temps may still warm somewhat, it's spring/summer that are most affected by AMOC slowdown. and with all the extra moisture in the air, that means that a much larger chunk of the year becomes conducive to snowpack growth.
so while at the moment we still see everything melt year in and out, i anticipate this may soon change.
i think another thing that has not been explored properly is what happens to the polar cell as AGW accelerates. and this also ties in directly to arctic ice loss. if you look at the maps even this year, it's clear that cold airmasses are now generated from land-based snowcover, and their passage over the Arctic Ocean is how it cools/ices over.
so what happens as AMOC slowdown accelerates while summer arctic sea ice continues to decline?
i am beginning to wonder if the earth's natural reset mechanism kicks in at the point when the CAB becomes ice-free, which would potentially act to split the polar cell in two as the NHEM enters the fall season. what does this entail...?
well, since the generation of cold airmasses is not actually dependent on the Arctic Ocean, and due to the fact that peripheral seas are faster to refreeze, it would seem to me that once this happens, it "confines" the cold to the landmasses vs. the oceans (in general -- or at least encourages their "residency" over both Eurasia and North America). and because the cell splits, Greenland actually becomes a cold air source for North America.
i believe it has been shown that Hudson Bay was the origin of the Laurentian ice sheet. and this makes sense for the above reason: if the ocean warms enough to the point where the polar cell splits in two, and Greenland then becomes a cold air source for North America (versus spilling cold air all across the Arctic Ocean/Eurasia), then Hudson Bay/Davis Straits become a natural location for the Polar Vortex, with the additional water vapor in the atmosphere acting as a ++++modifier for snowfall.
so basically, with heat transport to Quebec/Hudson Bay partially broken down due to AMOC slowdown, they become prime areas for vast amounts of snowfall/ice to accumulate, eventually linking with Greenland. and as snowpack keeps getting more and more impressive in these regions even in spite of general warming (since "warmth" is fine as long as temps stay below 32 -- and when you average 0-10deg F in winter, even a +10 monthly anomaly is actually a boon for snow), we see additional AMOC slowdown each yr as the amount of melt increases with snowpack.
eventually this hits a point (and I think we're close) where snowpack is retained through the summer.... and then from there, things get nasty.
(i don't know whether the above is likely at all and i know it sounds crazy but perhaps it is a natural mechanism & explains why the earth suddenly enters ice ages so often? ultimately it comes down to an ice-free arctic ocean...)
i would also add that the ice-free CAB becomes a major source for cyclones that eventually deposit even more prolific amounts of snow over far nrn latitudes than we currently see. and you end up with storms tracking along both the Eurasian Arctic Coast, and the North American Arctic Coast as seasons turn from summer into fall... further accelerating the process.
the below graphic is a crude description of this crazy idea (which could be just insane ramblings). the ferrell cell ends up displaced into the Arctic Ocean/colder northern oceans, the Hadley Cells expand somewhat, and the Polar Cell splits.
