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North Atlantic circulation slows down

Evidence suggests that the circulation system of the North Atlantic Ocean is in a weakened state that is unprecedented in the past 1,600 years, but questions remain as to when exactly the decline commenced.
  1. Summer K. Praetorius

    1. Summer K. Praetorius is in the Geology, Minerals, Energy, and Geophysics Science Center, US Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.

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The warm, salty waters of the Gulf Stream make a northeasterly meander across the Atlantic Ocean, eventually forming the North Atlantic Current, which then funnels into the Nordic Seas. In the chill of winter, these waters cool and descend with the heavy load of their salinity. This deep convection is a key part of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC; Fig. 1), which can be thought of as an ocean conveyor belt that releases heat to the atmosphere above the North Atlantic Ocean before travelling through the abyssal ocean to resurface in other areas of the world1.

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Nature 556, 180-181 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-04086-4

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