The major Atlantic ocean current, to which also the Gulf stream belongs, may have been losing stability in the course of the last century. This is shown in a new study published in
Nature Climate Change. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, transports warm water masses from the tropics northward at the ocean surface and cold water southward at the ocean bottom, which is most relevant for the relatively mild temperatures in Europe. Further, it
influences weather systems worldwide. A potential collapse of this ocean current system could therefore have severe consequences.
© R.Curry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution/Science/USGCRP
"The Atlantic Meridional Overturning really is one of our planet's key circulation systems," says the author of the study, Niklas Boers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Freie Universität Berlin and Exeter University. "We already know from some computer simulations and from data from Earth's past, so-called paleoclimate proxy records, that the AMOC can exhibit - in addition to the currently attained strong mode - an alternative, substantially weaker mode of operation. This bi-stability implies that abrupt transitions between the two circulation modes are in principle possible."
Comment: The quake mentioned above, that happened on September 7th, coincided with the anniversary of another large quake, an M8.2, that happened on the exact same date back in 2017. On September 19th 2017, just 12 days later, another large M7.1 struck, and that coincided with the anniversary of a particularly destructive M8 quake that hit back in 1985; and that citizens remember well, with sorrow and dread. And so, understandably, residents are particularly nervous about this coming anniversary, on September 19th, and whether this apparent pattern of these quakes will prove true: See also: