Climate's Unforeseen Consequence: Air Purity's Perilous Paradox
New research suggests cleaning air pollution could slow down a key Atlantic ocean current (AMOC), impacting weather globally. Who is affected?
#CleanAir, #OceanCurrents, #ClimateChange, #AMOC, #GlobalWeather
https://newsletter.tf/clean-air-efforts-weaken-atlantic-ocean-current/
Scientists found cleaning air pollution might speed up the weakening of a major Atlantic ocean current. This current helps control weather around the world.
#CleanAir, #OceanCurrents, #ClimateChange, #AMOC, #GlobalWeather
https://newsletter.tf/clean-air-efforts-weaken-atlantic-ocean-current/
To put Prof. Rahmstorf's work on the AMOC into planetary perspective: If you calculate the flow of all the rivers in the world combined, the total volume of water is only about 1% to 2% of the Gulf Stream.
Look at the sheer scale of the Amazon basin from space here—and then realize it's just a tiny fraction of that single ocean current engine. If this engine stalls, the global thermodynamic shift will be catastrophic.
The AMOC collapse or severe weakening is one of the critical climate tipping points. When people think of global warming, they often just think of things getting universally hotter. The irony of the AMOC slowing down is that by shutting off the tropical "conveyor belt" of warm water to the North Atlantic, it would plunge parts of Europe into severe, localized cooling and entirely disrupt agricultural cycles, while accelerating sea-level rise on the North American coast.
A major Atlantic current is at a critical tipping point that could cause dramatic shifts in global weather patterns.
The signs of destabilization are visible already.
Should the AMOC weaken substantially, it could bring intense cold and stronger storms to Europe, raise sea levels across the northeast coast of N. America
Wer glaubt, der #AMOC -Kollaps sei abgesagt irrt sich.
Ich sage es immer wieder: Achtet auf den Cold Blob . Solange der Cold Blob signifikant messbar existiert ist der Abriss der Wärmepumpe nicht abgesagt.
Ich bin promovierte Geologin und habe viele Jahre in der #marinescience gearbeitet:
Wenn ich wissen will, wie es aktuell um die AMOC steht, schaue ich, ob sich der Cold Blob zurück entwickelt hat. Nein? Wir schauen nach wie vor in den Abgrund, Leute!
Durch den #Klimawandel (stärkere Niederschläge, schmelzende Gletscher) wird das Wasser im Nordatlantik verdünnt. Europas Wärmepumpe #AMOC gerät ins Stocken.
Informativer Beitrag im Deutschlandfunk, mit Input von PIK-Forscher @rahmstorf
"Can geoengineering avert a #climatecatastrophe?
The construction of a dam (to close the Bering Strait) could prevent the weakening of the #AMOC..."
Wow. The sheer desperate madness of the idea shows how completely & truly fucked we are. Abandon all hope, ye who read this...
https://www.ft.com/content/e36fbb4b-9842-4805-897c-2a73a78665d9?syn-25a6b1a6=1
According to the paper, aerosols act like a temporary sunshade that reduces how much sunlight reaches the ocean. When this pollution is cleaned up, the extra sunlight warms the North Atlantic, disrupting the temperature balance needed to keep the conveyor belt moving. "Aerosol perturbations that feature larger positive North Atlantic ERF are associated with larger AMOC weakening," continued the scientists
https://phys.org/news/2026-05-climate-air-pollution-key-atlantic.html
It may sound counterintuitive, but new research suggests that cleaning up air pollution could contribute to a weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). This is the ocean current system that acts like a giant conveyor belt, moving warm surface water northward and cool deep water southward.
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