2024-02-10 20:20:00
The circulation of ocean currents, which acts as a thermostat on our planet, is increasingly affected by global warming according to a study carried out by a team of Dutch scientists, reports TF1 info.
Towards a point of no return? In a study published Friday February 9, a team of Dutch researchers from the Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research (Imau) reveals that the circulation of currents in the Atlantic Ocean is close to a critical shift, thus causing “bad news for the climate system and humanity“, reports TF1 info.
In order to justify their comments, the team relies on an indicator “early warning” from “reversal circulation“(also called AMOC), a notion which describes”this gigantic ocean treadmill that redistributes heat, carbon and nutrients essential to life around the planet“. Once reaching the Arctic Circle, these flows cool before reaching the depths of the ocean.
Except that, using their new data, the researchers were able to confirm that this phenomenon was in the process of declining. It might even be irreversible due to the melting of Greenland’s ice caps and glaciers which have accelerated with global warming.
A collapse within 100 years
And the observation is clear. An erosion of this natural process might lead to a sudden collapse within 100 years. “This is bad news for the climate system and humanity“, point out the specialists, “because until now, we might think that the AMOC shift was only a theoretical concept and that it will disappear as soon as we take into account the entire climate system“.
The effects on our ecosystem would then be dramatic and rapid. The level of the Atlantic Ocean might rise by a meter in certain regions, the seasons would be reversed in the Amazon, and land temperatures would be completely disrupted. Changes so sudden, it would be almost impossible to adapt to them.
If today a study predicts that the breaking point of this collapse is located between 2025 and 2095, the fact remains that there is no consensus on the extent of the latter.
published on February 10 at 9:20 p.m., Kévin Comby, 6Medias
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