This Is Climate Change by David Nelles and Christian Serrer

Author:David Nelles and Christian Serrer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Experiment
Published: 2021-08-03T21:53:16+00:00

2 Annual sea level rises in comparison5,6

THE OCEANS

Changes in Oceanic Circulation

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a part of the “global conveyor belt” (p. 16).1 Together with the Gulf Stream 1 and the North Atlantic Current 2, it transports large quantities of heat from the tropics to the North Atlantic, thereby helping to maintain the moderate climate in northwest Europe.2 The warm, salt-rich surface water flowing north releases its heat into the atmosphere in the North Atlantic. This leaves the seawater cooler and denser, causing it to sink and then flow back southward in the deep ocean.3 In the south, different water masses combine in the deep ocean, which, helped by surface winds, brings the deeper water back to the surface.4 The AMOC cycle can then begin again.

As climate change progresses, Greenland’s ice sheet continues to melt (p. 56). Because the meltwater is low in salt content, it reduces the density of the surface water in the North Atlantic. This could mean that the water masses from the south will no longer sink deep enough to be transported back, potentially weakening the AMOC cycle.5 So far, there is no clear indication that this is happening, but model simulations show that the AMOC could weaken by between 11 percent and 34 percent by the end of the twenty-first century, due to the increase in human-made greenhouse gas emissions.6,7,8 This may have consequences on both sides of the Atlantic, from rising sea levels and more hurricanes on the East Coast of the US9,10 to a change in wind circulation patterns and, consequently, more severe storms in Europe.11

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