A critical ocean system may be heading for collapse due to climate change, study finds

[applegrove]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/08/05/change-ocean-collapse-atlantic-meridional/

A critical ocean system may be heading for collapse due to climate change, study finds

'The consequences of a collapse would likely be far-reaching.’


By Sarah Kaplan at the Washington Post

"SNIP......


Human-caused warming has led to an “almost complete loss of stability” in the system that drives Atlantic Ocean currents, a new study has found — raising the worrying prospect that this critical aquatic “conveyor belt” could be close to collapse.

In recent years, scientists have warned about a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which transports warm, salty water from the tropics to northern Europe and then sends colder water back south along the ocean floor. Researchers who study ancient climate change have also uncovered evidence that the AMOC can turn off abruptly, causing wild temperature swings and other dramatic shifts in global weather systems.

Scientists haven’t directly observed the AMOC slowing down. But the new analysis, published Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change, draws on more than a century of ocean temperature and salinity data to show significant changes in eight indirect measures of the circulation’s strength.

These indicators suggest that the AMOC is running out of steam, making it more susceptible to disruptions that might knock it out of equilibrium, says study author Niklas Boers, a researcher at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Science in Germany.

......SNIP"

[PortTack]

1. If we think the drought we have now is bad...

[-misanthroptimist]

2. I'm not sure what's happening.

If we Google "ocean currents are speeding up" we find a different take on ocean currents.

There seems to be some disagreement on this topic. I don't know enough about it to have any opinion on it.

[applegrove]

4. Are you saying it will all balance out? From your article:

Last edited Thu Aug 5, 2021, 02:40 PM - Edit history (1)

"SNIP.....

So far, when it comes to the effect of climate change on ocean currents, the largest amount of attention has been paid to the North Atlantic region. Here, a major current system — the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC — is moving not faster, but slower.

This circulation, however, is not driven simply by winds — it is also propelled by the density of cold seawater, which determines how much water can sink and flow back southward in the deep ocean. So, the results are not necessarily contradictory.

....SNIP"

[-misanthroptimist]

6. No, I'm not saying anything

Let me clear: I'm just reading this stuff -some of which seems to be at odds with other stuff. I am in no way, shape, or form remotely qualified to decide which is right, or if either of them are right. It's an aspect of Climate Change I haven't explored much.

[getagrip_already]

3. what they are referring to obtusely

are the gulf stream, the humbolt stream, and associated currents.

The world without the gulf stream would be a very different place. Fish stocks would tank for one. But climate aberrations would make current severe wx events look tame.

It would be a no-good, very bad milenia.

[global1]

5. Disney Needs To Shoot A New Movie.....

Killing Nemo

Maybe hearing about how climate change is hurting our oceans - directly from this famous fish - would be the kick in the pants we need to do something to minimize or stop this destruction.