New scientific study has discovered that planetary warming which is human-driven threatens to disrupt a system of currents in the Atlantic Ocean control and affect weather all over the globe.

Its collapse would prompt serious and future consequences that can't be undone all over the world.

Atlantic Ocean
(Photo : Jenna Bash)


Human-driven Planetary Warming 

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a part of the Gulf Stream that conveys cold water from the North Atlantic and warm water from the tropics northward to the south.

This natural redistribution of heat has put in so much effort for a long time now in order to stabilize weather conditions and regional climate. Scientists have also been warning that the system is declining.

In a  2019 United Nations report, it was finalized that while the current has a high possibility of weakening this century, a total breakdown was not likely. 

Also Read: Earth's Vital Signs are Worsening and Many are Not Paying Attention

Atlantic Current System 

The new study, released Thursday in the journal Nature Climate Change, shows the situation could be extremely serious than previously believed. 

The analysis states that there is a possibility current changes will be connected to a nearly complete loss of stability of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation throughout the last century.

Niklas Boers, author of the study and also a researcher working at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany said in a statement:

"The findings support the assessment that the AMOC decline is not just a fluctuation or a linear response to increasing temperatures but likely means the approaching of a critical threshold beyond which the circulation system could collapse." 

A crippled Atlantic current system could possibly prompt catastrophic changes that can't be undone in the future, from rising waters in North America to major disturbances to periodic monsoon rains in South America and Asia.

Atlantic Ocean
(Photo : Ishant Mishra)

AMOC Tipping Point 

A climate physicist at Ireland's Maynooth University, Levke Caesar, told The Washington Post: "The mere possibility that the AMOC tipping point is close should be motivation enough for us to take countermeasures. The consequences of a collapse would likely be far-reaching."

But a climate scientist at Oregon State University whose name is Andreas Schmittner is doubtful of how the study was concluded. 

This study comes before a major report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC -  the leading group of scientists researching human-caused temperature rise. Aug. 9 is the date the assessment is due out.

This assessment is authored by over 200 scientists, and it will give up-to-date knowledge of the crisis and its present and potential effects all over the globe.

Boers told the Guardian that there's no means to identify the level of greenhouse gas emissions that would lock when the AMOC totally collapses. He said the only thing to do is to make emissions stay as low as possible.

The probability of this severely high-impact event occurring rises with every gram of CO2 that is released into the atmosphere.

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