A Major Ocean Current May Be Hurtling Towards Collapse

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The ocean may have less time than we thought before massive, irreversible shifts take place. A new study finds that a crucial ocean system may reach its “tipping point” sooner than predicted if the rate of climate change continues at a breakneck pace.

When we talk about climate change, the concept of tipping points is basically adding fuel to the already nightmare fire. Scientists now agree that climate changes could drive crucial systems on our planet to change so much that they reach a tipping point where recovery is impossible and change is inevitable.

One of the most pressing worries scientists have when it comes to tipping points lies underwater. Specifically, the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, known as the AMOC, which helps shepherd warmer water to the North Atlantic. Among other things, it helps ensure Europe has relatively mild winters given its high latitude. Messing with it could be one of the fastest ways to make not just the region’s but the world’s weather run amok.

In the new study published Monday in the Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences, scientists considered not just the amount of change to the oceans that could precede a tipping point, but also the rate of change. Think of it as the difference between pouring a cup of hot water very slowly into a bucket of cold water versus dumping it in all at once. While the same amount of water is being added both times, the rate at which water is being added is quite different.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/a-major-ocean-current-may-be-hurtling-towards-collapse/ar-BB1dWPCc?ocid=DELLDHP&li=BBnb7Kz

[Laelth]

1. k&r for visibility. n/t

-Laelth

[FirstLight]

2. This is the kind of stuff that we humans can in no way repair

So much sadness when I think about the MANY thresholds we have crossed over the years. ALready having huge methane bubbles "popping" out of the permafrost, etc..

This planet is a bigger and more intricate system than we can scratch the surface of knowing... and yet humans have managed to fuck it up royally

[ancianita]

8. Right.It's called Earth climate dynamics. Can't be slowed or stopped. Earth dynamics are untouchable

[thenelm1]

17. And then there is Senator Snowball...was it Imhofe?

Another mental midget that claims "fake news" based on a local occurrence. We're all doomed.

[ancianita]

20. Likely. BUT. Climate don't care about what puny humans do or don't do. We have to get past people

being a drag on us. Seriously. Let's not deal with the drama of political inertia and denial anymore.

To keep recriminating the arrogant ignorant makes us feel good but we waste our energy on that after awhile.

We have to channel our attention to team up with those who drive for huge scaled up projects.
Slowing Earth dynamics is going to take every bit of wealth (quadrillions) and effort (land, air, water) of humans. Just to give our descendants a livable future.

This is a call to search for those high level agency bioengineers people.

Let's not waste any more energy on chimps.

[Fullduplexxx]

3. The coming ice age

[SunSeeker]

9. No, not ice age. Ice UK. Most other places in the world will be burning up. nt

[Fullduplexxx]

21. The great burning will cloud the air bringing the ice

[IbogaProject]

4. climate flips happen quick

a great deal of excellent work has been done on climate history, and the switches happen very quickly and some have been enormous temperature shifts globally. A big one 300 Million years ago happened over a dozen years and the earth shifted 20 degrees Fahrenheit warmer average temperature. If this happens now a majority of habitable areas will be deadly some times of the year.

this guy a pseudonym for a Rutgers University climate scientist covers the oncoming climate collapse in detail. artic-news

[zipplewrath]

5. May already be there

One of the more horrible realities is that as good as the models have been, and dead on accurate the predictions have been, they basically have always underestimate the impacts. This usually happens because they didn't know, or think of, secondary and tertiary effects such as carbon dioxide release from frozen glaciers and tundra. With respect to these sea flows, they may not fully understand how to account for massive amounts of melted, and fresh, water entering the north Atlantic.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I have been muttering for several years now that what we have to really worry about

is a change in, or complete shutdown of various ocean currents. That would have a HUGE impact on climate.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. Me too. More than muttering, but that is what it amounts to.

All I can do is complain. We are and so is most of the life on Earth.

[NotHardly]

10. "The Day After"... great movie ... shitty reality

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After_Tomorrow

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

11. I saw that movie and was frustrated at how bad the science was.

[wnylib]

14. Yup. The premise of the movie

was that the fresh water melt from glaciers into the Atlantic would cause the Gulf Stream to cool and bring on an ice age for northern Europe and northern North America.

Scientifically it was off, and way oversimplified.

But the film showed 3 superstorms coalescing over the North Atlantic. A few years ago, when Superstorm Sandy occurred, I had an eerie feeling that maybe the movie was not as far off as I had thought. I rented the movie to watch it again.

Even as bad as the film was scientifically, it does appear that the Gulf stream WILL cool off and Europe WILL have a colder climate.

[Aussie105]

12. The planet Earth is a dynamic system.

A system made up of many factors.
Currently it is mostly predictable, but it's not stable. We have the 4 seasons because the Sun's energy available at any one spot varies due to the tilt of the Earth's axis.

A new equilibrium is sought if any factors are changed. Most important factor, the energy in the system. Increase that, by trapping more energy from the Sun, and who knows what will happen?


The equilibrium will stabilize into new patterns.
It's just that humans may not like where that seeking of equilibrium takes the habitability of some parts of the planet.

Will the next world war be fought over habitable land?

[wnylib]

19. Habitable land and also water supplies.

With rising temperatures, more land will become dryer. Streams, creeks, and lakes will dry up in some places. Fighting over water access will be a problem. Also, as ocean levels rise and islands and shores disappear, more people will seek to migrate inland.

Lots of geopolitical turmoil to come from these changes.

[taxi]

13. ...feedbacks or unresolved processes ...

“Bottom line is I think this study is important and points out the complex dynamics inherent in our climate system,” Sutherland said. “I’m worried by the details (though I’m sure some reviewers were, too), and think there could be other climate feedbacks or unresolved processes that might change their results, if not their ultimate conclusions.”

Sounds like he's saying that other things could make this look like a big nothing. Weather events around the world are ignored by our media, they cover major disasters on a sliding scale. We can't control Texas, no less the planet.

[pansypoo53219]

15. i have been expecting this.

[JoeOtterbein]

16. F...!

We've been predicting this for years. Europe is even more f......

Sorry, for using foul language. But this news deserves it, more now than any other time.

S...!

[herding cats]

18. The Gulf Stream, which brings warm water northward along the U.S. coast, is a key part of the AMOC.

We're all impacted by this along the Atlantic and its related flows.

Our marine life will suffer the hardest losses first, but none of us will escape. Times have changed and we're now on a different path which we helped create.

It's the first time in the history of the earth we're experiencing a climatic episode such as this with a species intelligent enough to understand what's taking place. Not that it ultimately mattered much, but it's still true and interesting.