March 3, 2021
A new study suggests that the Gulf Stream – an Atlantic Ocean current that plays a large role in shaping Earth’s weather patterns – is weaker now than at any point in the last 1,000 years.
The Gulf Stream plays a vital role in redistributing heat throughout our planet’s climate system. This animation shows the Gulf Stream sending warm water to the North Atlantic Ocean, forcing colder water to sink and travel southward. Image via NASA/ Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio/ SciJinks.
The Gulf Stream, the Atlantic ocean current system that plays a vital role in redistributing heat throughout our planet, is the weakest it’s been in at least 1,600 years. That’s according a new study, published February 25, 2021 in the peer-reviewed journal
Gulf Stream System at its weakest in over a millennium
Never before in over 1000 years the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), also known as Gulf Stream System, has been as weak as in the last decades. This is the result of a new study by scientists from Ireland, Britain and Germany. The researchers compiled so-called proxy data – taken mainly from natural archives like ocean sediments or ice cores – reaching back many hundreds of years to reconstruct the flow history of the AMOC. They found consistent evidence that its slowdown in the 20th century is unprecedented in the past millennium – it is likely linked to human-caused climate change. The giant ocean circulation is relevant for weather patterns in Europe and regional sea-levels in the US; its slowdown is also associated with an observed ‘cold blob’ in the northern Atlantic.
Never before in over 1000 years the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), also known as Gulf Stream System, has been as weak as in the last decades. This is the result of a new study by scientists from Ireland, Britain and Germany. The researchers compiled proxy data, reaching back hundreds of years to reconstruct the AMOC flow history. They found consistent evidence that its slowdown in the 20th century is unprecedented in the past millennium.