When will a vital system of currents in the Atlantic Ocean collapse? Depends on whom you ask. (grist.org)

submitted 1 week ago by Salamence@lemmy.zip to c/biodiversity@mander.xyz

0 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5204608

Just below Greenland is a menacing stretch of water known as the Cold Blob. As the planet heats up, the Cold Blob remains a spooky outlier — positioned right above the area where the Atlantic Ocean’s so-called conveyor belt is supposed to switch back and head south.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current, or AMOC for short, comprises an enormous system of currents that carries water and nutrients across the world and plays a large part in stabilizing the global climate. For years, scientists have warned that the AMOC was slowing down, possibly nearing collapse. The Cold Blob is the most immediately visible proof of its decline, likely a result of Greenland’s melting glaciers, but research on the deep water current’s strength over recent years has varied wildly

The stakes could hardly be higher. Should the current break down, the most frightening predictions describe a world thrown into chaos: Drought could destroy India, South America, and Africa; the Eastern Seaboard of the United States would see dramatic sea level rise; and an arctic chill would spread across Europe.

Part of what makes AMOC’s behavior so hard to forecast is that consistent monitoring of the current didn’t begin until 2004, so the historical data is limited. When researchers run models to examine AMOC’s behavior in the past, they sometimes get baffling results. “The new models aren’t working for AMOC,” said David Thornalley, a paleoclimatologist at University College London, who wasn’t involved with the latest research. “Some people would say we don’t 100 percent know what AMOC did through the 20th century.”

Full Article

no comments (yet)

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

there doesn't seem to be anything here

this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2025

22 points (100.0% liked)

Biodiversity

2165 readers

14 users here now

Welcome to c/Biodiversity @ Mander.xyz!

A community about the variety of life on Earth at all levels; including plants, animals, bacteria, and fungi.

Notice Board

This is a work in progress, please don't mind the mess.

2023-06-16: We invite our users to contribute resources for the sidebar.

2023-06-15: Looking for mods!

About

Biodiversity is a term used to describe the enormous variety of life on Earth. It can be used more specifically to refer to all of the species in one region or ecosystem. Biodiversity refers to every living thing, including plants, bacteria, animals, and humans. Scientists have estimated that there are around 8.7 million species of plants and animals in existence. However, only around 1.2 million species have been identified and described so far, most of which are insects. This means that millions of other organisms remain a complete mystery.

Over generations, all of the species that are currently alive today have evolved unique traits that make them distinct from other species. These differences are what scientists use to tell one species from another. Organisms that have evolved to be so different from one another that they can no longer reproduce with each other are considered different species. All organisms that can reproduce with each other fall into one species. Read more...

Rules