#AMoC

[mindblowingscience]

A group of scientists warned Monday of the greatly underestimated risk of a collapse of ocean currents in the Atlantic which could have catastrophic consequences for the Nordic countries as the region's leaders gathered in Iceland. In an open letter addressed to the Nordic Council, which is meeting this week in Iceland's capital Reykjavik, the scientists said they wanted to bring attention "to the serious risk of a major ocean circulation change in the Atlantic."

Continue Reading.

[this-user-is-sus]

Scientists this week warn that the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (aka AMOC, contains the Gulf Stream) is closer than they previously predicted, as early as 2025.

This is bad and will lead to ripples in climate, weather patterns, local "normal" temperatures, storm severity, ocean oxygenation and fishery productivity (hello phrase "fish die-offs" 😭), and sea level that will disrupt life as we know it and cannot be reversed in this century or maybe (likely) for centuries to come.

(You can check the Wikipedia page for more information.).

Scream at someone about this.

Go here -- https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ -- or here -- https://www.usa.gov/elected-officials. Start typing. Feel free to use the template I'm putting under the "read more." Press send. Repeat if you have the energy. Ily if you do it even once. Thank you, and keep fighting the good fight!

Dear <NAME OF OFFICIAL>,

<OPTIONAL SENTENCE OR TWO TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF. Say why climate change matters to you. Say if you're frightened. Say if you're depressed. Say if you're anxious. Make it personal.>

This week a study was released (https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/world/gulf-stream-atlantic-current-collapse-climate-scn-intl/index.html, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39810-w) showing that the collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is far closer than scientists had previously thought. When this current stops, it will have far-reaching impacts on sea level, weather, storm patterns, and fishery production that will be irreversible for a century or far longer.

I am deeply worried about the future. We need climate change ACTION now, not just voluntary incentive programs. Please take action to improve our electrical grid, transition our power plants to clean fuels, transition to clean modes of transportation, and tax carbon emissions.

Sincerely,

<YOUR NAME HERE>

[azspot]

With all the unknowns, it is of course dicey to project what happens after the currents stop. But let’s just, for a moment, say the AMOC crosses its tipping point and starts heading to collapse. Researchers have taken a stab at modeling what that future might look like.

First, the system would slow and slow until—well, nobody knows. It could be headed to a full stop. That would take about a century. Or it might settle into a much weaker flow. Both are bad. The AMOC transports a staggering amount of energy. Like a million nuclear power plants. It is such a core element of the Earth system that its collapse would radically alter regional weather patterns, the water cycle, the ability of every country to provide food for its inhabitants.

Below the surface of the ocean, the invisible waterfalls near Iceland and Greenland would peter out. That’s horrendous for creatures in the deep who need the oxygen the AMOC delivers to survive. Widespread die-off of marine life: likely. Shutting off the current would also cause the ocean’s surface to smooth out. The flattened water level will be higher than it is now, which will mean almost a meter of sea level rise along the US northeast coast. (That’s in addition to the sea level rise from melting glaciers.)

Without the big heat delivery that softens its winters, Europe would end up with much more intense seasons, according to a 2022 report. A lot more snow. Much less rain. In the post-­tipping decades, many European cities might end up colder by 5 to 15 degrees Celsius. In Bergen, Norway, the temps could drop a whopping 35 degrees Celsius. Sea ice in winter might extend all the way down to the southern UK. The summers, meanwhile: hotter and drier.

An AMOC shutdown would clobber the food system. The fraction of land suitable for growing wheat and maize—staple crops worldwide—would drop by roughly half. In an analysis of how an AMOC collapse would affect agriculture in the UK, the authors wrote there would be ��a nearly complete cessation” of arable farming. Goodbye oats, barley, wheat. A massive irrigation project could salvage the land at a cost of roughly $1 billion a year, more than 10 times the yearly profit from the crops. Food prices would spike. Further north, in places like Norway and Sweden, food production would also plummet. Those countries would have to rely heavily on imports. But perhaps not from the usual sources. The power­houses of Ukraine, Poland, and Bulgaria—Europe’s breadbaskets—would also be dealing with less rain, colder weather, and severe losses of income from the crash of their ag industry.

The worst effects, though, would be likely to hit the tropics. The Intertropical Convergence Zone is the swath of atmosphere around the equator—centered at about 6 degrees north—with little wind and lots of rain. Sailors called it the doldrums. Season by season, that zone’s band of clouds migrates north or south, and those movements bring either extended dry periods or months of rain. An AMOC collapse would push the doldrums southward. In the Amazon, the altered Intertropical Zone could cause the wet and dry seasons to flip to the opposite times of year. The plants, insects, fungi, and mammals below the canopy would be forced to adapt at warp speed—or die off. Not to mention the trees themselves, which, in addition to supporting an intricate ecosystem, absorb tons of carbon from the atmosphere. The Amazon, of course, is being logged and overheated to its own tipping point, and an AMOC shutoff could be the final shove.

[sataniccapitalist]

AMOC Collapse Risks Hugely Underestimated according to Open Letter by Prominent Climate Scientists

[nonenglishsongs]

Amoc, Niki Rasmus, Heidi Gauriloff - Čuđeh (Inari Sami)

[avandelay20]

Some of the consequences of Amoc collapse.

Sea levels in the Atlantic would rise by a metre in some regions, inundating many coastal cities.

The wet and dry seasons in the Amazon would flip, potentially pushing the already weakened rainforest past its own tipping point.

Temperatures around the world would fluctuate far more erratically.

The southern hemisphere would become warmer.

Europe would cool dramatically and have less rainfall.

While this might sound appealing compared with the current heating trend, the changes would hit 10 times faster than now, making adaptation almost impossible.

[expectsomuch]

Not Good

[cerebrodigital]

El sistema complejo de corrientes oceánicas, conocido como la circulación de vuelco meridional del Atlántico o AMOC, podría colapsar a mediados de este siglo debido al calentamiento global, según revelaron los científicos. Lee la preocupante noticia aquí 👇

[aromantisk-fagforening]

I like this album:

the language is Inari Sámi, which I don't speak, so I don't know what the lyrics mean, but musically it's so cool.

I found this translation/interpretation thing.

[teachanarchy]

The AMOC Might Be WAY More Unstable Than We Thought...Here's Why

[johniac]

Attention-Worthy Links for November 21st, 2024

[atsvensson]

Ny istid i Norden - forskare varnar

Ny istid i Norden? Det går att leva i Norden på grund av att varmt vatten förs med havsströmmar norrut. Populärt brukar en säga att det är Golfströmmen som gör att det går att leva och bo i Norden. Klimatförändringarna har så här långt inneburit att det även i Norden blivit varmare. Havet har blivit varmare, vintrarna mildare och somrarna regnigare. IBland har somrarna dock blivit torrare och…