The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation is the main ocean current system in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a major component of Earth's ocean circulation system and plays an important role in the p
In one paper, AMOC collapse only occurs in a full general circulation model after it ran for nearly 2000 years, and freshwater quantities (in Sv) increased to extreme values. While the conditions are unrealistic, the model may also be unrealistically stable, and the full implications are not clear without more real-world observations.
1992–2002 altimeter data from NASA Pathfinder indicated a slowing (red) in the subpolar gyre region. This was used as a proxy for the AMOC before the initiation of RAPID, and before subsequent research demonstrated the subpolar gyre often behaves separately from the larger circulation.
RAPID tracks both the AMOC itself (third line from the top, labelled MOC) as well as its separate components (three lower lines) and the AMOC flow combined with the subpolar gyre and/or the western boundary current flow (upper two lines) AMOC flow during 2004–2008 appears stronger than afterwards.
AMOC is considered to be one of the several major parts of the climate system which could pass tipping point around a certain level of warming and eventually transition to a different state as a result. The graphic shows the levels of warming where this tipping is most likely to occur for a given element.
The Gulf Stream is a warm and swift Atlantic ocean current that originates in the Gulf of Mexico and flows through the Straits of Florida and up the eastern coastline of the United States, then veers
Atlantic meridional overturning circulation
…or southward; the Atlantic Ocean is the only ocean in which the heat flow is northward. Much of the heat transfer in the Atlantic occurs due to the Gulf Stream, a surface current that carries warm water northward from the Caribbean. While the Gulf Stream as a whole is driven by winds alone, its northernmost…
Surface temperatures in the western North Atlantic: The Gulf Stream is represented by the large red-yellow (hot) flow from the Gulf of Mexico northwards in this image. Source: NASA
Evolution of the Gulf Stream to the west of Ireland continuing as the North Atlantic Current
Hurricane Sandy intensified as it tracked northward along the axis of the Gulf Stream in 2012.