Collapse of key Atlantic currents [heard it before?] may be held off by newly-discovered back-up system, study finds

Credit: researchgate.net

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This topic has been an enduring hobby horse of climate alarmists, but for a change here it seems a new process in the Arctic could ‘save the day’ – scientists say. Introducing ‘Arctic Atlantification’. Anything that breaks the seemingly endless cycle of ‘climate breakdown’ style doom-laden speculation about these northern ocean currents is surely at least worth a look. Unsurprisingly, we’re told more research (modelling?) is needed but at least a note of uncertainty is present, rather than the usual ‘watch out’ tones.
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Key Atlantic Ocean currents that appear to be slowing down due to climate change may be more resilient to global warming than scientists previously thought — thanks to a secret back-up system, a new study shows.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a web of currents that loops around the Atlantic like a giant conveyor belt, says LiveScience.

Cold, salty waters sink near Greenland then travel south along the ocean floor. Eventually these waters rise to the surface again near Antarctica and return north, bringing balmier waters to the Northern Hemisphere. This system is crucial to warming Europe, in particular.

In recent years, experts have repeatedly sounded the alarm bell [Talkshop comment – despite counter-evidence], suggesting the step in which waters sink could cease completely, which could lead to a massive drop in temperatures in Northern Europe and exacerbate sea level rise along the U.S. East Coast, among other impacts.

Dense water formation in the Nordic Seas has decreased since 1993, which spells trouble for the entire Atlantic circulation system — were it not for a newly found back-up system, Årthun said. The researchers published their findings Friday (July 11) in the journal Science Advances.

Arctic “Atlantification”
For the study, Årthun and his colleagues fed density measurements from the subpolar North Atlantic, Nordic Seas and Arctic Ocean into a computer model. They compared the results with available observations to check that the simulation accurately mirrored processes in this region.

The simulation confirmed that the Arctic Ocean is undergoing a process called “Atlantification.”

“Atlantification refers to the transition of the Arctic Ocean from a cold, ice-covered state to a warm, more ice-free state,” Årthun said.

Recent decades have seen sea ice in the Barents Sea — a region of the Arctic Ocean that is situated between Scandinavia and Svalbard — retreat farther and farther north, Årthun said. “We expect the Barents Sea to be the first Arctic region to become ice-free,” he said, adding that Atlantic waters are now also spreading into the Eurasian Basin, north of the Barents Sea.

Atlantification of the Arctic Ocean means the region is creating more dense water than it was previously, Årthun said.

“We find that this decrease [in dense water formation] in the Nordic Seas has been compensated for by more dense water formation in the Barents Sea and north of Svalbard,” he said. “These two regions have experienced a retreating sea ice edge […], hence increasing the area over which dense waters can be produced.”

The authors think this back-up system could help to sustain the AMOC. “There are processes that add resilience to the AMOC, perhaps making a serious weakening or collapse less likely,” Årthun said.

Full article here.
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Image credit: researchgate.net