Photo by Christoffer Engström on Unsplash
2023 is the year that climate change really started to bite. The insane temperatures over the past few months have woken many up to the sheer scale and danger of our climate crimes. But a recent study put the cat among the pigeons, as it predicted a catastrophic Day After Tomorrow — esque climate tipping point could be reached as soon as 2025, turbocharging climate change and unleashing hell upon the Americas and Europe. But is this doomsday prediction to be believed?
This all starts with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), also known as the Gulf Stream. This is a system of interlinked cool deepwater currents and warm surface currents driven by winds and sea ice. You see, as sea ice forms, the water around the ice sheets gets saltier and, therefore, denser, as ice can’t contain salt. This cold, dense water sinks, drawing warmer surface waters in from further South. Meanwhile, trade winds in the tropics blow the warm surface waters northwards, which pulls cold water up from the depths of the tropics. As these two systems are linked, water goes around and around, travelling between the tropics and the Arctic.
The AMOC is actually one of the most critical climate systems in the Atlantic region. The cold upwellings it creates in the tropics bring vital nutrients from the ocean depths, enabling algae to grow, creating a carbon sink. The warm water it brings to the Arctic is still nutrient-rich, and its warmth keeps the Arctic Sea ecosystem thriving, even in the highest latitudes. But this great conveyor belt also dramatically affects the climate of both Europe and America. It keeps north Europe considerably warmer through winter than their American cousins on the same latitudes, around 20 degrees Celsius warmer. This extra wintertime heat stabilises winter weather in these regions and is why most of Northern Europe is so habitable. It also stabilises rainfall and winter weather in much of the US by again providing a little heat through winter.
But, many scientists think that the AMOC is slowly grinding to a halt. You see, the main driving force of the AMOC is the winter growth of the ice sheets, and climate change is causing the Arctic to warm 2.5 times faster than the…
