Atlantic Meridional Ocean Current Breakdown Possible By 2025 Causing Storms, Ecosystem Collapse

(Photo : Pexels/Murilo Fonseca)

Scientists have found that the Atlantic Meridional Ocean Current (AMOC) could collapse, endangering more the ocean system.

According to a Live Science report, some experts have predicted that the AMOC, which has been considered as a significant ocean system, might fall apart at any period beginning 2025. They warned that this phenomenon could result in the falling of the temperatures, the breakdown of the ocean ecosystems, as well as the occurrence of more storms across the globe.

Effects of the possible AMOC collapse

In the study posted on Nature, researchers Peter Ditlevsen and Susan Ditlevsen pointed out how the AMOC was branded as a "major tipping element" in the climate system, noting that its foreseen collapse will have serious effects in the climate being experienced in the North Atlantic Region.

"In recent years weakening in circulation has been reported, but assessments by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), based on the Climate Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) model simulations suggest that a full collapse is unlikely within the 21st century," the study stated.

"Tipping to an undesired state in the climate is, however, a growing concern with increasing greenhouse gas concentrations," it further said.

In a BBC report, the AMOC was described as a complicated set of currents that bring warm water north towards the pole, an area where it cools and sinks. The theory on the collapse of the AMOC was based in the present condition in which greenhouse gas emissions are on the rise.

Researchers have found that if the specific ocean system would collapse, this might result in lower temperatures of up to 10 or 15 degrees in Europe and it might also lead to rising sea levels in the eastern portion of the United States.

The agriculture system of the affected countries will also be affected as this occurrence will disrupt rain, which is significant for the sector. This will adversely affect billions of people who depend on for food in India, South America and West Africa.

A report on The Guardian noted that the phenomenon could also bring risks on the Amazon rainforest and the Antarctic ice sheets.

Based on available data, the last time that the AMOC had stopped and restarted was during the period of Ice Ages or around 115,000 to 12,000 years ago.

Contradictions

Some scientists are not buying this theory, including MET Office Hadley Center's Ben Booth. He emphasized that the recent study was "far from settled science."

For her part, Professor Penny Holliday of the National Oceanography Center at the University of Southampton said that it is too difficult to find the full veracity on the AMOC's possible breakdown.

"We know that there is a possibility that AMOC could stop what it's doing now at some point, but it's really hard to have certainty about that," Holliday said in the BBC report.

The arguments when it comes to the AMOC have proven that studying the climate system was very complex, and it is a reality that scientists still do not possess all the pieces of evidence that they need to fully understand the ocean system.