NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — Over more than 4.5 billion years of Earth‘s history, our planet has experienced both periods of prosperity and unstable eras. Some of these cyclical events, scientists believe, may be approaching again. A key warning signal has been revealed that the Atlantic Current, including the Gulf Stream, may soon undergo changes that will wreak climate havoc in the Northern Hemisphere.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is an important oceanic system that transports warm water north of the Southern Hemisphere, where it evaporates and freezes.
During freezing, the salt concentrates to form extremely salty water, which sinks and returns to the south, where it is reheated and moves along the circulation belt. This process affects the climate of Europe and partly North America, making their climate milder.
However, a new study analyzing sediments over the last 100,000 years found that historically, the AMOC occasionally stopped abruptly, causing major climate changes in just a few decades.
According to a team from Utrecht University, this scenario could happen as early as 2025. This is causing some concern among researchers, as recent years have seen a slowdown in the Gulf Stream, which is part of the AMOC. However, it is not yet clear whether the system is moving towards such a tipping point.
In a recent study, scientists found that the influx of fresh water into the Atlantic Ocean at 34 degrees south latitude may be a precursor to the “collapse of the Atlantic Ocean Excessive Global Circulation” (AMOC).
According to the authors of the study, this section of the current reaches its minimum about a quarter of a century before the potential decline of the AMOC.
To date, scientists have been unable to obtain a long-term observational record of this freshwater flow, making it difficult to assess how far the AMOC is from complete collapse at this point.
However, it is an indisputable fact that the flow of fresh water is continuously decreasing. According to the first author of the study, René van Westen, it is known that we are approaching a new climate crisis, but it is not known at which stage of this process we are.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) depends on the level of salinity of the water and is extremely sensitive to the influence of fresh water. However, climate crisis conditions, including changes in precipitation patterns and ocean water inflows, may change these parameters, bringing the AMOC closer to collapse.
According to van Westen, to predict the date of the collapse, it is necessary to model the increase in the flow of fresh water in the North Atlantic over the past more than 2,000 years.
This is a long and complex process, but it is necessary to obtain accurate forecasts. The researchers were able to model the increase in freshwater and found a long-term negative trend. Although the exact date of the collapse is not predicted, the study suggests that it could lead to a complete cessation of circulation and a loss of about 75% of the heat transfer from the south to the north direction.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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