Climate: The Gulf Stream is endangered

The Gulf Stream, which scientists call the “South Atlantic Reverse Rotation” (Amoc), is said to have reached a breaking point. This is what emerges from thisA dangerous study has been published In review Natural climate change, Thursday, August 5th.

The researchers observed “Complete loss of stability“Amokin in the last century.”I didn’t expect the symptoms of instability to be already visible, it’s scary“, Is believed Defender Nicholas Boers, author of the study, fears that this could lead to the collapse of Amok. “We cannot allow this“, He warns.

“Irreversible” change

What researchers fear is that Amok leans like that. “Irreversible“Towards a new operating system that is slower and weaker than it has been for more than 100,000 years. Already, A study published in March In review Natural Geoscience In the millennium Amok reached its lowest point.

However, due to the problem of the AMOC system, it is not possible to know exactly when such a change will occur. According to the authors of the study published on Thursday, this could happen in a decade or two and several centuries.

Temperatures are rising on land and in the oceans

Amok plays an important role in climate control by continuing the currents of heat, carbon and oxygen. Thanks to that, for example, Europeans can benefit from a relatively mild summer. The collapse will have severe consequences: winter temperature drop and rising hurricanes in Europe, rain regime disruption in South America, India and West Africa, rising water levels in North America …

“Concrete, if traffic is severely reduced, we will notice a severe winter in Europe. Also in southern and western Africa, severe droughts are affecting maize and millet crops, reducing the food intake of millions of people.“, Analyzed CNRS researcher Didier Swingedo An interview at The world Released in early March. Who cares, In FranceInfo, The decrease in CO2 absorption, hence the increase in the concentration of this gas in the atmosphere, and then the acceleration of temperature rise on Earth and in the oceans.

“The only thing to do is keep the emissions as low as possible”

However, caution is needed as the relationship between ocean cycle and climate is not properly understood. In particular, Amok’s future depends on the success of policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The deterioration of the circulation of ocean currents is particularly disturbed by the direct effects of the large-scale climate crisis of fresh water resulting from the warming of the oceans and the melting of ice.

“So the only thing to do is to keep the emissions as low as possible., Oversees Nicholas Boers, who works at the University of Potsdam. Every gram of CO2 we put in the atmosphere increases the probability of this very strong impact occurring.“