The ocean circulation that persists even after a key AMOC component fails

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is thought to face a potentially existential threat from climate change. But attempts to model what happens to AMOC as the oceans warm show divergent outcomes, leaving its fate unclear. In a paper published in AGU Advances, Shantong Sun and Andrew Thompson use a hierarchy of models to show that...
Key Takeaways
- The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is thought to face a potentially existential threat from climate change.
- But attempts to model what happens to AMOC as the oceans warm show divergent outcomes, leaving its fate unclear.
- In a paper published in AGU Advances, Shantong Sun and Andrew Thompson use a hierarchy of models to show that the cross-hemispheric overturning could persist for centuries even as North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation shuts down.
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is thought to face a potentially existential threat from climate change. But attempts to model what happens to AMOC as the oceans warm show divergent outcomes, leaving its fate unclear. In a paper published in AGU Advances, Shantong Sun and Andrew Thompson use a hierarchy of models to show that the cross-hemispheric overturning could persist for centuries even as North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation shuts down.
Original Publisher Attribution
This summary was curated from Phys.org.