A new paper was published in Science Advances today. Its title says what it is about: Physics-based early warning signal shows that AMOC is on tipping course. The study follows one by Danish colleagues which made headlines last July, likewise looking for early warning signals for approaching an AMOC tipping point (we discussed it here), but using rather different data and methods. The new study by van Westen et al. is a major ...
They show how particularly northern Europe from Britain to Scandinavia would suffer devastating impacts, such as a cooling of winter temperatures by between 10 °C and 30 °C occurring within a century, leading to a completely different climate within a decade or two, in line with paleoclimatic evidence about abrupt ocean circulation changes. In addition they show major shifts in tropical rainfall belts. These (and many more) impacts of an AMOC collapse have been known for a long time but thus far have not been shown in a climate model of such high quality.
Anybody know any further details about what to expect if it collapses?
The Guardian article mentions a likelihood that in the Amazon region the wet and dry seasons would trade places, making it nearly impossible for many species located there to adapt in the time frame at hand.
Anybody know any further details about what to expect if it collapses?
The Guardian article mentions a likelihood that in the Amazon region the wet and dry seasons would trade places, making it nearly impossible for many species located there to adapt in the time frame at hand.