Climate scientists claim Gulf Stream could be near collapse — predicting a new ice age
Alarming research shows how the risks to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation current could change the world forever.
A key Atlantic current could be pushed to the brink of collapse within decades, supposedly ushering in a new ice age and dramatically raising sea levels, climate scientists have claimed in a controversial new study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment.
The apocalyptic predictions came as a result of a collaboration between researchers at the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of California, San Diego — weeks after one-time climate alarmist Bill Gates publicly downplayed the impact of temperature fluctuations on the planet.
Per the new findings, the at-risk current in question is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, a “conveyor belt of the ocean” that funnels warm water toward the ocean surface from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere.
This current, which includes The Gulf Stream that runs from The Gulf of Mexico to the US East Coast and across the Atlantic to Europe, helps maintain the mild climate of Europe, the UK and the US East Coast.
The study stated that the source of this marine temperature regulator, the Greenland Ice sheet, is being thawed amid warming temperatures, causing meltwater run-off to leach into the North Atlantic — leading to stagnation.
This has resulted in a “distinctive temperature fingerprint” located some 3,280 to 6,560 feet below the ocean’s surface, according to reporting by the Daily Mail.
“Here we identify a distinctive temperature fingerprint in the equatorial Atlantic that signals the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation change,” the authors wrote. “The robust physical mechanism and reliable detection make [this fingerprint] a valuable metric for AMOC monitoring in a warming climate.”
The presence of the marine hot pocket appears to suggest that the current slowdown has been occurring for decades and could foment a total decline before the end of the century, per the study.
The researchers reportedly happened upon this warm spot by using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model — a computer model that simulates the ocean, atmosphere and climate — to monitor how “AMOC-related signals” like energy waves ripple rapidly toward the equator.
When they hit home, they multiply along the equatorial region, effectively creating this oceanic hot spot.
The AMOC slowdown prompts subsurface warming in the subpolar North Atlantic — the region between the subtropics to the south and the Nordic Seas to the north — generating energy waves that travel along the western North Atlantic toward the equator.
By examining observational data dating back to 1960, the research team discovered that the mid-depth warming trend that spiked in the late 2000s, indicating that the AMOC’s decline began in the late 20th century.
Should the AMOC slow down too much, they claim, it could have significant ramifications. These include the extreme suggestion that temperatures across Europe to drop by nearly 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
“Winters would be more typical of Arctic Canada and precipitation would decrease, also,” Jonathan Bamber, a professor of Earth observation at the University of Bristol, told the Daily Mail.
Coincidentally, the last time the AMOC collapsed was before the last Ice age that ended about 12,000 years ago, Reuters reported.
This article was originally published in New York Post and is reproduced here with permission.
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Originally published as Climate scientists claim Gulf Stream could be near collapse — predicting a new ice age
