Are Atlantic Ocean Currents shutting down?

Each day we all encounter something related to how humanity is growing ever nearer to its impending doom. 

With our anthropogenic pressures exacerbating the effects of climate change, we are inevitably going to reach some tipping points. These tipping points are mind-boggling, and it will take some time before we can understand them properly. 

One such tipping point we need to take seriously is the notion of Gulf Stream disruption and all its catastrophic connotations. This North Atlantic current system has a significant influence on European climates, as it draws warm water north it keeps the UK approx. 5C warmer than it would otherwise be. Without this system, microclimates would drastically alter, and much wildlife would be lost. 

Some of you may have watched the attentive science fiction film, The Day After Tomorrow (2004), whereby it dawned on the sudden collapse of North Atlantic currents generating from an anthropogenically induced Ice Age. The graphic and gruesome details of our fate were illustrated through humans freezing the instant they stood outside their homes. Rest assured that these extremities will not happen, at least not in our lifetimes… but who knows what the dawning new Ice Age will bring? 

Before we jump to conclusions, it’s key that we understand why the Gulf Stream is so  significant, hence then we can rationally think of solutions to mitigate against climate change. 

Fig. 1 – A thermal image showing the warm waters travelling from the Gulf Stream and past the East US Coast. Source = arsTECHNICA

To put it simply, the Gulf Stream and Atlantic Ocean Currents are giant hot water bottles keeping us warm in the winter, when essentially we should be freezing. Recently, a new study has come about regarding the role of Atlantic current systems. Fundamentally, warm southern waters travel to the North Atlantic where they sink, cool and return south. Then the Atlantic Ocean Currents started to quicken the pace, resulting in more heat that was originally trapped in the atmosphere being stored thousands of metres below the ocean surface. This change in the system led to what appeared to be a “slowdown” in the process and pace of global warming. However, the Atlantic currents started to slow down and this recession ultimately leads on to more heat escaping the system and travelling into the atmosphere, consequently resulting in increasing global temperatures which is likely to continue indefinitely. 

What does this mean for the UK? 

Experts from this study predict that the “slowdown” in Atlantic currents will not last long, and the UK will soon see the continued impact of climate change exacerbated over the next 20 years.