Climate expert on potential collapse of Atlantic circulation
The dangers of a collapse of the main Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, known as AMOC, have been “greatly underestimated” and would have devastating and irreversible impacts, according to an open letter released at the weekend by 44 experts from 15 countries. One of the signatories, Stefan Rahmstorf, an oceanographer and climatologist who heads the Earth system analysis department at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, explains here why he has recently upgraded his risk assessment of an AMOC breakdown as a result of global heating – and what that means for Britain, Europe and the wider world.
The statements introduction says: “We, the undersigned, are scientists working in the field of climate research and feel it is urgent to draw the attention of the Nordic Council of Ministers to the serious risk of a major ocean circulation change in the Atlantic. A string of scientific studies in the past few years suggests that this risk has so far been greatly underestimated. Such an ocean circulation change would have devastating and irreversible impacts especially for Nordic countries, but also for other parts of the world.”
Link to the statement:
https://en.vedur.is/media/ads_in_header/AMOC-letter_Final.pdf
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