A 'cold blob' in the Atlantic could be a sign of AMOC shutdown – CNN
Key takeaways
- The swath of ocean — dubbed the “cold blob” or “warming hole” — has cooled by nearly 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since 1900.
- The new research concludes it’s the latter, and the finding points to a worrying future.
- The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, works like a vast ocean conveyor belt, pulling warm water from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, where it cools, sinks and flows back south.
The “cold blob” appears in a data visualization showing average temperatures in 2015, relative to the 1951-80 average NASA Scientific Visualization Studio/Goddard Space Flight Center Climate change See all topics Facebook Tweet Email Link Threads Link Copied! Follow Summary. A mysterious cold patch in the North Atlantic has puzzled scientists for years. New research links the cooling to a weakening system of Atlantic Ocean currents that researchers warn could reach a tipping point. The shutdown of these currents would bring catastrophic changes to weather and climate across multiple continents. AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor. In the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Greenland and Iceland, a large patch of water is doing something very strange. While the rest of the ocean heats up, it’s been getting colder. A new study says it has the answer to this mystery — and it’s an ominous sign the world is hurtling toward one of the most alarming climate tipping points.
The swath of ocean — dubbed the “cold blob” or “warming hole” — has cooled by nearly 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since 1900.
Scientists have long debated whether this anomaly is driven by heat loss from the ocean surface due to changes to winds and clouds, or whether it’s a signal of the weakening of a critical system of ocean currents, which transports heat. The new research concludes it’s the latter, and the finding points to a worrying future.