Oregon State research examines potential weakening of major Atlantic ocean current amid climate change
- Research from Oregon State University suggests that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) may weaken as the climate warms, potentially leading to rising sea levels and changes in monsoon patterns.
A major ocean current system that helps move heat around the planet may weaken as the climate warms, according to research from Oregon State University.
Scientists say the potential weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, could have global consequences, including rising sea levels and changes to monsoon patterns.
The AMOC is a massive network of ocean currents that acts as a heat transport engine for the planet.
"The AMOC... is one of the most important currents in global ocean," explained Christo Buizert, an associate professor in Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences.
Buizert said the current plays a key role in the planet's overall heat budget.
"This AMOC is very closely related to the heat budget of the entire planet — not just the Atlantic but the entire planet," he said.
As the climate warms, Buizert said climate models show the AMOC may weaken, warming global waters and the planet and leading to major consequences.
"There's different implications. First of all, the sea level, so we know as the ocean warms, it expands, and that means sea levels will rise around the world," Buizert said.
A weaker current could also affect other global weather patterns, including monsoons.
"When this AMOC weakens, we have found that monsoons tend to weaken. That has really big implications for billions of people who live in those regions today," Buizert said.
If that happens, Buizert said the oceans could warm, speeding up global warming.
"Going into the future, all of the climate models we have is that this AMOC might be weakening," he said.
To understand how the current has changed over time, scientists are looking thousands of years into the past.
"We go to Greenland to drill ice cores, and they give us a detailed record of climate of Greenland going back in time," Buizert said.
Buizert calls the ice a time machine. Because Greenland is so cold, year after year of snow does not melt, preserving layers that can help scientists reconstruct past climate conditions.
The current is strong right now, but scientists continue to study it because measuring a current that spans an entire ocean basin is no easy task.
