Scientists from the University of California, Riverside have discovered that the ocean current in the Atlantic Ocean that significantly affects the climate — the Gulf Stream — which has been weakening for over 100 years, may soon disappear completely. This will negatively affect the climate, researchers warn. Daily Mail writes about this, reports UNN.
Details
The Gulf Stream is only a small part of a much broader system of currents, officially called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).
AMOC, dubbed the 'ocean's conveyor belt,' transports warm, salty water near the ocean's surface north from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere.
This is crucial for maintaining a temperate climate in Europe, the UK, and the east coast of the USA.
The concern is that if AMOC collapses rapidly, it could lead to profound freezing in large parts of Europe.
Our analytical work shows that AMOC has been weakening for over a century. This trend is likely to continue if greenhouse gas levels continue to rise,
— said Professor Wei Liu, one of the authors of the study.
Unlike the water surrounding it, this 'stubborn' patch of cold water has resisted global warming for over a century, which has long fueled discussions among scientists.
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People have wondered why this cold spot exists; we found that the most likely answer is the weakening of AMOC,
— said lead author of the study Wei Liu.
As AMOC slows down, less heat and salt reach the North Atlantic, leading to cooler, fresher, and less salty surface waters.
From these long-term salinity and temperature data, they reconstructed changes in the circulation system and compared them with nearly 100 different climate models.
They found that only models simulating a weakened AMOC matched the real data. This indicates that a weakened AMOC was the only possible cause of the blob's formation.
In the Hollywood film "The Day After Tomorrow," the AMOC collapse occurs within a few days, and the fictional weather immediately changes to extremely cold.
Fortunately, such a rapid transition will not happen in real life, said Penny Holliday, Head of Marine Physics and Ocean Circulation at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton.
— she said.
Last week, another team of scientists reported that temperatures in Scotland could drop to -30°C if AMOC collapses. Moreover, Edinburgh will spend almost half the year with a minimum temperature below 0°C.
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