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.

  • BestBouclettes@jlai.lu
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    8 months ago

    Plenty of things have changed, as with everything, it’s gradual.
    Obviously we need a big bang in how the world works but that’s not gonna happen anytime soon.
    Most CO2 emissions are growing less fast than they used to, renewables are on the rise, electrification is rising as well, nuclear power is also on the rise both on generation and new construction.
    People have slowly realised that there is actually something wrong with the climate in the last decades.
    It’s very slow, too slow and it’s gonna get tough but we’re getting there.
    I’m not sure to understand how me thinking, that action and progress, as slow as they are, is a fraud.