Major Atlantic Ocean Current System May Be Approaching Critical Threshold

New Study by Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Freie Universität Berlin, and Exeter University. No 152/2021 from Aug 06, 2021 A major Atlantic Ocean current, which includes the Gulf Stream, may have lost stability over the course of the last century. The research appeared in a new study published , authored by Niklas Boers (Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, PIK, Freie Universität Berlin, and Exeter University). The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, transports warm water masses from the tropics northward at the ocean surface and cold water southward at the ocean bottom, an important factor in keeping temperatures relatively mild in Europe, as well as influencing weather systems worldwide. A potential collapse of this ocean current system could therefore have severe consequences. "The Atlantic Meridional Overturning really is one of our planet's key circulation systems," says Boers. "We already know from some computer simulations and from data from Earth's past, so-called paleoclimate proxy records, that the AMOC can exhibit - in addition to the currently attained strong mode - an alternative, substantially weaker mode of operation.