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Ocean Current That Keeps Europe Warm Is Weakening Because of Climate Change (washingtonpost.com)

The Washington Post: The Atlantic Ocean circulation that carries warmth into the Northern Hemisphere's high latitudes is slowing down because of climate change, a team of scientists asserted Wednesday, suggesting one of the most feared consequences is already coming to pass (Editor's note: the link may be paywalled; alternative source). The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation has declined in strength by 15 percent since the mid-20th century to a "new record low," the scientists conclude in a peer-reviewed study published in the journal Nature. That's a decrease of 3 million cubic meters of water per second, the equivalent of nearly 15 Amazon rivers.

The AMOC brings warm water from the equator up toward the Atlantic's northern reaches and cold water back down through the deep ocean. The current is partly why Western Europe enjoys temperate weather, and meteorologists are linking changes in North Atlantic Ocean temperatures to recent summer heat waves. The circulation is also critical for fisheries off the U.S. Atlantic coast, a key part of New England's economy that have seen changes in recent years, with the cod fishery collapsing as lobster populations have boomed off the Maine coast.

9 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Because of Climate Change? by darthsilun · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Don't get me wrong, I personally think that ACC is real, and a problem. But––

    The story I heard on NPR [1] today said:

    ...scientists disagree about what's behind the sluggish ocean current...

    but did go on to say:

    The only thing we really can do is obviously try and prevent global warming because that's the root cause of why we think it's weakening now...

    [1] https://www.npr.org/2018/04/13...

    1. Re:Because of Climate Change? by elrous0 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Global warming caused me to cheat on my wife. She understands now that I'm the real victim here.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  2. Re:Don't understand by GuB-42 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Amazon sells about 30-40 million books, the Library of Congress has about that many.
    So an Amazon is roughly equal to a Library of Congress.

  3. Re:This will hold for the first ten years of cooli by ColaMan · · Score: 5, Informative

    There is no "cooling trend". The current as it is today provides anomalously warm temperatures to northwestern Europe. If this current is fully disrupted, the UK and friends will end up having the same general climate as northern Canada. Along with northen Canada, it then will slowly warm in accordance with the generally accepted global rates.

    --

    You are in a twisty maze of processor lines, all alike.
    There is a lot of hype here.
  4. not a problem by WindBourne · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Paris accord will solve all the issues with Climate Change. I am sure that if we do not focus on stopping growth in emissions, and instead all focus on per capita emissions while allowing CHina, India, Brazil, South Africa, etc to grow, that it will solve all of these issues.
    I mean what could possible go wrong with stopping 1 small group of ppl while allowing others to grow far bigger in their emissions.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  5. Not new, Known unfortunate effect by foxalopex · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The sad truth is most folks don't realize how fragile our planet is, it's a finely balanced chaotic system where a slight change in something as small as the CO2 concentration in the air is enough to cause a massive shift in climate. Nature normally takes thousands of years but we're essentially speeding it up into centuries or even decades. It's been known for years that the ocean sea currents could change with climate change and unfortunately it looks like it's coming true. If the oceans current shutdown it won't just cause Europe to get cooler. It could disrupt the monsoon rains which allow India to farm and provides water. If you have a billion people starving to death, I wouldn't want to explain to them how this wasn't my fault and I'm not sharing.

    1. Re:Not new, Known unfortunate effect by DCFusor · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'd point out - and the XKCD below also shows indirectly, that "supporting life" is hugely different than "supporting billions of humans in comfort equivalent to today where a significant fraction are super poor and oppressed". To say things aren't fragile in that sense is indeed mental. For what it's worth, I'm considered a conservative. Because a few neocons deny GW - and neocons now pollute both false-dichotomy political parties - doesn't mean we've all lost the ability to think and analyze. What are now called liberals are anything but. These "progressives" are trying to force me to think just like them, as any good totalitarian would. The so-called conservatives are nothing like the dictionary - they seem to want war, to supress a different set of rights than the "liberals" but are statist none the less, have forgotten conservative values like "look before you leap", "spend less than you make", "don't fix things that ain't broke" and "don't start wars" (well, both fake sides forgot that one - Obama, for example had more war-days * number of places we fought than anyone else in history. So much for a peace prize. I'm sure Libya is better off now, or...). I want my language back. These liars who do so to keep power over us ruin it so we can't discuss intelligently. That sucks. https://xkcd.com/1732/

      --
      Why guess when you can know? Measure!
  6. Re:Ayup by KiloByte · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Europe needs to get ready for a few years of colder winters.

    For now, I'm not seeing any. Just see the "War on Christmas": when I was a kid, the Christmas was white every single year, with multiple months of snow. There wasn't a single white Christmas this decade. This year, there was a single day of snow, the day before Easter.

    (Yeah, a real scientist would look at measurements rather than color of Christmas, but using this particular set of data points is far more accessible to an average voter.)

    That's about it about northern Poland getting cooler. Once the current stops down for real, we'll see the effects, but for now, we're getting full brunt of literal "global warming".

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  7. Re: It's the middle of April by jd · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Not change? On average, for virtually all of the last 250 million years.

    The last century has seen more change than in any given ten million year period. I assume you've done calculus. Ok, maybe not.

    Nobody is spending trillions on climate change. If they had done so, it wouldn't be a problem. It's because they're too busy spending it on known things like warships, cruise missiles, nuclear warheads and pay raises for bankers and the uber-wealthy that there's a problem.

    No, I have absolutely bugger all sympathy for your argument.

    Oh, and Get Off My Lawn!

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)