This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References
Caesar, L., McCarthy, G. D., Thornalley, D. J. R., Cahill, N. & Rahmstorf, S. Current Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation weakest in last millennium. Nat. Geosci. 14, 118–120 (2021).
Moffa-Sánchez, P. et al. Variability in the northern North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans across the last two millennia: a review. Paleoceanogr. Paleoclimatol. 34, 1399–1436 (2019).
Gu, S., Liu, Z. & Wu, L. Time scale dependence of the meridional coherence of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans 125, e2019JC015838 (2020).
Rahmstorf, S. et al. Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation. Nature Clim. Change 5, 475–480 (2015).
Little, C. M., Zhao, M. & Buckley, M. W. Do surface temperature indices reflect centennial-timescale trends in Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation strength? Geophys. Res. Lett. 47, e2020GL090888 (2020).
Keil, P. et al. Multiple drivers of the North Atlantic warming hole. Nat. Clim. Change 10, 667–671 (2020).
Sherwood, O. A., Lehmann, M. F., Schubert, C. J., Scott, D. B. & McCarthy, M. D. Nutrient regime shift in the western North Atlantic indicated by compound-specific δ15N of deep-sea gorgonian corals. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 1011–1015 (2011).
Gruber, N. & Galloway, J. N. An Earth-system perspective of the global nitrogen cycle. Nature 451, 293–296 (2008).
Thornalley, D. J. R. et al. Anomalously weak Labrador Sea convection and Atlantic overturning during the past 150 years. Nature 556, 227–230 (2018).
McCave, I. N., Thornalley, D. J. R. & Hall, I. R. Relation of sortable silt grain-size to deep-sea current speeds: calibration of the ‘Mud Current Meter’. Deep Sea Res. I 127, 1–12 (2017).
Moffa-Sanchez, P., Hall, I. R., Thornalley, D. J. R., Barker, S. & Stewart, C. Changes in the strength of the Nordic Seas Overflows over the past 3000 years. Quat. Sci. Rev. 123, 134–143 (2015).
Mjell, T. L., Ninnemann, U. S., Kleiven, H. F. & Hall, I. R. Multidecadal changes in Iceland Scotland Overflow Water vigor over the last 600 years and its relationship to climate. Geophys. Res. Lett. 43, 2111–2117 (2016).
Moffa-Sánchez, P. & Hall, I. R. North Atlantic variability and its links to European climate over the last 3000 years. Nat. Commun. 8, 1726 (2017).
Smeed, D. A. et al. The North Atlantic Ocean is in a state of reduced overturning. Geophys. Res. Lett. 45, 1527–1533 (2018).
Karspeck, A. R. et al. Comparison of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation between 1960 and 2007 in six ocean reanalysis products. Clim. Dynam. 49, 957–982 (2017).
Willis, J. K. Can in situ floats and satellite altimeters detect long-term changes in Atlantic Ocean overturning? Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L06602 (2010).
Piecuch, C. G. Likely weakening of the Florida Current during the past century revealed by sea-level observations. Nat. Commun. 11, 3973 (2020).
Yashayaev, I. & Loder, J. W. Recurrent replenishment of Labrador Sea water and associated decadal-scale variability. J. Geophys. Res. Oceans 121, 8095–8114 (2016).
Rossby, T., Chafik, L. & Houpert, L. What can hydrography tell us about the strength of the Nordic Seas MOC over the last 70 to 100 years? Geophys. Res. Lett. 47, e2020GL087456 (2020).
Desbruyères, D. G., Mercier, H., Maze, G. & Daniault, N. Surface predictor of overturning circulation and heat content change in the subpolar North Atlantic. Ocean Sci. 15, 809–817 (2019).
Acknowledgements
K.H.K. acknowledges funding from NOAA grant NA20OAR4310481. D.E.A. and B.L.O.-B. acknowledge support from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which is a major facility sponsored by the National Science Foundation under cooperative agreement no. 1852977. N.M.W. acknowledges support from a NOAA Climate and Global Change Postdoctoral Fellowship. M.F.J. acknowledges support from NSF award OCE-1846821 and C.M.L. acknowledges support from NSF award OCE-1805029. This is UMCES contribution 6062.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
K.H.K., A.D.W., P.M.-S. and D.J.R. drafted the manuscript. All the authors contributed to discussions in the conception of the work, writing and editing the manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Peer review
Peer review information
Nature Geoscience thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Primary Handling Editor: James Super, in collaboration with the Nature Geoscience team.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information
Figure 1 credits and table of data in the figure.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Kilbourne, K.H., Wanamaker, A.D., Moffa-Sanchez, P. et al. Atlantic circulation change still uncertain. Nat. Geosci. 15, 165–167 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00896-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00896-4
This article is cited by
-
Weakened AMOC related to cooling and atmospheric circulation shifts in the last interglacial Eastern Mediterranean
Nature Communications (2023)
-
North Atlantic Oscillation contributes to the subpolar North Atlantic cooling in the past century
Climate Dynamics (2023)
-
Evolution characteristics of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and its thermodynamic and dynamic effects on surface air temperature in the Northern Hemisphere
Science China Earth Sciences (2023)
-
Early warning signal for a tipping point suggested by a millennial Atlantic Multidecadal Variability reconstruction
Nature Communications (2022)
-
Rapid 20th century warming reverses 900-year cooling in the Gulf of Maine
Communications Earth & Environment (2022)