Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout
The collapse of a critical Atlantic current can no longer be considered a low-likelihood event, a study has concluded, making deep cuts to fossil fuel emissions even more urgent to avoid the catastrophic impact.
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system. It brings sun-warmed tropical water to Europe and the Arctic, where it cools and sinks to form a deep return current. The Amoc was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis.
Climate models recently indicated that a collapse before 2100 was unlikely but the new analysis examined models that were run for longer, to 2300 and 2500. These show the tipping point that makes an Amoc shutdown inevitable is likely to be passed within a few decades, but that the collapse itself may not happen until 50 to 100 years later.
The research found that if carbon emissions continued to rise, 70% of the model runs led to collapse, while an intermediate level of emissions resulted in collapse in 37% of the models. Even in the case of low future emissions, an Amoc shutdown happened in 25% of the models.
Scientists have warned previously that Amoc collapse must be avoided “at all costs”. It would shift the tropical rainfall belt on which many millions of people rely to grow their food, plunge western Europe into extreme cold winters and summer droughts, and add 50cm to already rising sea levels.
Earth, being 71% covered in water, is influenced by the ocean and its movements. In the Atlantic Ocean, a system of connected currents, call
"Earth, being 71% covered in water, is influenced by the ocean and its movements. In the Atlantic Ocean, a system of connected currents, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), moves water throughout the world's oceans powered by a combination of winds and ocean density. It not only distributes the ocean's heat, moisture, and nutrients, but regulates the Earth's climate and weather.
As the climate is continuously changing and the atmosphere is warming, many scientists fear that fresh water from melting polar ice sheets could significantly disrupt—or collapse—the AMOC. While a decline of the AMOC would have grave consequences, a collapse would be truly catastrophic.
However, studies about the AMOC's long term future are uncertain. Instead of predicting the future, a team of scientists from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) quantified the past to help inform where we could be going.
In a new paper published in Nature Communications, scientists found that the AMOC has not declined in the last 60 years.
Authors [...] say their results mean that the AMOC is currently more stable than expected.
"Our paper says that the Atlantic overturning has not declined yet," said Foukal, who conducted the research while at WHOI. "That doesn't say anything about its future, but it doesn't appear the anticipated changes have occurred yet."
Their findings contrast with previous work, notably a paper from 2018 cited in their study, which reported that the AMOC has declined over the last 70 years. This past work relied on sea surface temperature measurements to understand how the AMOC has changed, but "we've learned that sea surface temperature doesn't work as well as initially thought," said Terhaar, who began leading this study at WHOI as a postdoctoral scientist and completed the work in Bern.
To address the uncertainty, Terhaar and the team relied on new data from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), climate-earth models produced by the World Climate Research Program. They used 24 different CMIP models and found that the most recently available surface temperature data did not accurately reconstruct the AMOC.
Going a step further, the researchers looked at a different measure: air-sea heat fluxes, which is the exchange of heat from the ocean to the atmosphere. When the AMOC is stronger, more heat is released from the ocean to the atmosphere over the North Atlantic...
The authors derived this AMOC proxy with the CMIP models, then applied it to observational data. The best data for surface heat fluxes over the North Atlantic come from reanalysis products that incorporate direct observations into a model, similar to the way weather forecasts work. The study authors focused on two reanalysis data sets that extend back to the late 1950s to reconstruct the AMOC.
"Based on the results, the AMOC is more stable than we thought," Vogt said. "This might mean that the AMOC isn't as close to a tipping point as previously suggested." ...
As with all proxy-based reconstructions, there are limitations and caveats. The authors point out that direct measurements of air-sea heat flux going back in time are sparse, and thus the reanalysis products contain significant uncertainty. However, despite these limitations, "a decline in AMOC over the last 60 years," Terhaar concludes, "seems very unlikely.""
-via Phys.org, January 15, 2025
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Note: Sorry the article's kind of dense/opaque, couldn't find a better one. But I can't underline enough how much "the AMOC is not declining" would be a HUGE relief, climate-wise.
Leading oceanographers issued a urgent warning about the increasing risk of Atlantic Ocean current collapse, which could trigger devastating
"While the collapse of the AMOC was once considered “low probability,” the likelihood of it happening is increasing. In fact, it’s becoming so concerning to oceanographers that 44 of them, from various countries, wrote and published a call to action, warning that the risk of the AMOC reaching a disastrous tipping point is “greatly underestimated” and will have “devastating and irreversible impacts.”
Iceland has declared the potential collapse of the AMOC a national security risk, prompting the need for immediate attention.
Iceland has sounded the alarm regarding the potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, declaring it a national security risk that requires its immediate attention.
What's happening?
As reported by Reuters, officials in Iceland are warning that the collapse of the AMOC could lead to a modern ice age scenario in Northern Europe. This would result in plummeting temperatures, increased snowfall and ice accumulation, and the potential destabilization of weather patterns across the world.
Not only would this harm the agriculture industry and vulnerable ecosystems in Europe, but other regions could also face an existential threat due to far-reaching and severe climate impacts.
"It is a direct threat to our national resilience and security," said Iceland Climate Minister Johann Pall Johannsson in an email, per Reuters. "[This] is the first time a specific climate-related phenomenon has been formally brought before the National Security Council as a potential existential threat."
