Global Warming Impact: Atlantic Ocean Currents Could Collapse By 2030 – New Research Suggests. Global warming will likely bring Earth to a shutdown by 2064 and the process has already started. Research revealed that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a critical system of Atlantic Ocean currents that influences the world’s weather, is weakening and could collapse in the late 2030s. This is being driven by warmer ocean temperatures and disrupted saltiness.
The research used a state-of-the-art model to estimate when the Earth will likely collapse and predicts a shutdown between 2037 and 2064. Ren van Westen, co-author of the study and a marine and atmospheric researcher at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, said the climate will become more awry with heat waves, droughts, and flooding.
Also Read: Planet Earth 1.64C Hotter Than in Preindustrial Times: Report
He explained that the AMOC pulls warm surface water from the southern hemisphere and the tropics, and distributes it in the North Atlantic. This makes the colder, saltier water sink and flows south, keeping the southern hemisphere from overheating and the northern hemisphere from getting too cold.
Also Read: The Swifty Touch: Taylor Swift Is Boosting The Economy Wherever She Goes
Earth To Witness More Extreme Weather
According to NOAA, if the AMOC continues to slow, the Earth will become warmer and warmer, and the freshwater from melting glaciers and ice in the poles would shift the rain belt in South Africa, and cause more severe droughts.
Stefan Rahmstorf, a physical oceanographer at Potsdam University in Germany, believes an AMOC collapse is a big danger to our planet. He said a few years ago, researchers were discussing AMOC collapse as a kind of low-probability, high-impact risk.
Rahmstorf said its more real than ever and an imminent danger to the world. He pointed out that five studies suggest the collapse could happen in this century, even before the middle of the century. And now it looks even more likely.
