Scientists are sounding the alarm that a crucial component of the planet’s climate system is in gradual decline and could one day reach a tipping point that would radically alter global weather patterns.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, is a system of ocean currents that circulate water in the Atlantic Ocean like a conveyor belt, helping to redistribute heat and regulate global and regional climates. New research, however, warns that the AMOC is weakening under a warming climate, and could potentially suffer a dangerous and abrupt collapse with worldwide consequences.

“This is bad news for the climate system and humanity,” researchers from Utrecht University’s Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research wrote in a new study published in the journal Science Advances.

  • Chee_Koala@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Energy generation is about to experience a renewable tipping point, so our source of energy has changed a bit! It’s something :-). I’ve stopped hoping that people will change, now I’m just waiting for the “fuck you got mine” generation to die and leave us alone. The outcome is the same, but I’m less bothered by it all.