United States: According to a new study, a vital system of ocean currents could collapse in decades, causing catastrophic sea-level rise and extreme weather across the earth. The study was published in the journal Nature.
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), of which the Gulf Stream is a part, is a major element of the global thermohaline circulation in the oceans. It is the zonally integrated component of surface and deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean. The ocean currents transport heat northward across the North Atlantic, where the water cools, becomes saltier, and sinks deep into the ocean before spreading southward. This lengthy process takes an estimated 1,000 years to complete, but it has slowed even more since the mid-1900s, as stated.
It helps to regulate global weather patterns. Its collapse would lead to much more extreme winters and sea level rises affecting parts of Europe and the US, as well as a shifting of the monsoon in the tropics. The study warns that the collapse could happen as soon as 2025 or as late as 2095, given current global greenhouse gas emissions.
Two years ago, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that there was no chance of such a collapse. But the new study suggests it might not be as far away and unlikely as mainstream science says.
For years, scientists have raised concerns about the precariousness of our planet’s climate system as the climate crisis intensifies, posing a significant threat to the stability of ocean currents. These currents rely on a delicate balance of temperature and salinity to maintain their strength.
However, with the increasing warming of the oceans and the melting of ice, more freshwater is flowing into the ocean, causing a reduction in water density and hindering its ability to sink. If the waters become excessively fresh, warm, or both, this could lead to a halt in the conveyor belt-like circulation of currents.
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