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A new study has worrying findings about changes to a vital aspect of the global climate system.
Why is this important: The apparent weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Reversing Circulation (AMOC) – in large part due to melting ice – is a reminder that climate change could bring some nasty surprises in the future.
Driving the news: In a study published in Geoscience of nature On Thursday, researchers reported that AMOC – an ocean current system that includes the Florida Current and the Gulf Stream – is in its “weakest state in over a millennium.”
- AMOC is the thermohaline circulation of the oceans and plays an important role in managing the global climate, including keeping temperatures in Europe warmer than they would otherwise be for its latitude.
The big picture: AMOC has been called the ‘Achilles heel’ of climate, causing drastic changes when it turned on and off throughout Earth’s history.
- He got a moment of public fame in the 2004 climate disaster film “The Day After Tomorrow”, where he died out and caused intense storms and weather conditions that destroyed major cities around the world.
Yes, but: Nothing so drastic is expected, even if the current weakens much more, and researchers still do not have a direct understanding of the health of AMOC, which is why they were forced to ” use proxy data in the study.
The bottom line: The main reason for worrying about climate change – and acting on it – is not the most likely bad outcomes, but the most lasting, but the least likely ones that could be truly existential.
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