Latest news with #AMOC
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Science
- Daily Mail
Scientists want to use giant PARACHUTES to stop the Gulf Stream collapsing – in controversial geoengineering experiment to combat global warming
As climate change disrupts the planet, experts are worried that a key ocean current called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) may collapse. This current is responsible for driving the Gulf Stream and bringing warm water from the tropics northwards to keep Europe temperate. Now, scientists have proposed a radical solution to save these vital systems and prevent Europe from slipping into a new Ice Age. Researchers say tugboats could tow huge underwater parachutes around the ocean to manually power the current. Each parachute would be the size of half a football field and would feature a 12-metre hole in the centre to allow ocean life to pass through. Just 30 to 50 shipping tankers, drones, fishing boats, or wind kites operating 365 days a year could be enough to power the entire Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Professor Stuart Haszeldine, of the University of Edinburgh, and David Sevier, founder of water treatment Strengite, presented the idea at the Arctic Repair conference in Cambridge this week. Professor Haszeldine told MailOnline: 'We think that this is a remedy well worth trying - because we want to keep the flows of ocean current similar to what we know works well just now.' The AMOC is the largest ocean current in the world and runs from south to north through the Atlantic Ocean. As warm water travels northwards from the tropics, it hits the sea ice around Greenland and the Nordic countries, cooling and becoming much saltier. As the water cools, it becomes denser, sinking rapidly towards the bottom of the ocean where it flows back southwards before once again warming and rising to the surface. This process of 'deep water formation' is the engine for a vast global conveyor belt which pumps heat and water all around the Atlantic Ocean. However, climate change is now melting the northern sea ice and warming the ocean, sparking fears that the engine driving this current could soon stall. The effects of an AMOC collapse would be devastating, leaving European countries 5-20°C (9-36°F) colder and drastically weakening the Gulf Stream. Professor Haszeldine says: 'Our proposition is made in the realisation that there is a real risk that the AMOC current could decrease and falter in the next 20 or 50 years.' If it does begin to falter, these scientists suggest that existing technology could be adapted to keep the current moving. What is the AMOC? The Gulf Stream is a small part of a much wider system of currents, officially called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC. Described as 'the conveyor belt of the ocean', it transports warm water near the ocean's surface northwards - from the tropics to the northern hemisphere. When the warm water reaches the North Atlantic (Europe and the UK, and the US east coast), it releases the heat and then freezes. As this ice forms, salt is left behind in the ocean water. Due to the large amount of salt in the water, it becomes denser, sinks, and is carried southwards – back towards the tropics – in the depths below. Eventually, the water gets pulled back up towards the surface and warms up in a process called upwelling, completing the cycle. Scientists think AMOC brings enough warmth to the northern hemisphere that without it, large parts of Europe could enter a deep freeze. 'The key point is to use surface shipping, which can tow a specially designed sea anchor behind the shipping, at a controlled depth,' says Professor Haszeldine. Parachutes, similar to current sea anchors used to hold ships in place, would be towed in the direction of the existing AMOC flow. The ships would only need to move just faster than the AMOC itself moves, no more than 2.5 miles per hour (4 kmph) - or about walking speed. Although the AMOC moves vast quantities of heat around the globe, Professor Haszeldine says its overall kinetic energy is relatively small. By selecting areas where the AMOC current is shallow enough to reach with a parachute and concentrated enough for the ships to make an impact, only a handful of ships will be needed. These ships will need to be in motion 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, on rotating shifts. However, Professor Haszeldine says this would be 'a small amount of kinetic movement' to produce a large impact on moving heat. Their research estimates that the required energy would be no more than that produced by a small offshore wind farm each year. If biodiesel is used, this would produce approximately 2.6 million tonnes of CO2 per year, which the researchers say is a 'very low' impact compared to the benefits. However, the proposal has been met with scepticism by leading AMOC researchers. Dr René van Westen, of Utrecht University, told MailOnline: 'The AMOC carries 17 million cubic meters of water per second - for reference, one million cubic meters of water per second is equivalent to the globally combined river discharge. 'I can't imagine that one can displace that amount of water with parachutes.' Even if parachutes could be effective, Dr van Westen says that they would only strengthen the upper wind-blown portion of the AMOC current. This section extends between 100 and 500 metres beneath the surface but only affects a small part of the ocean current's overall movement. Deeper currents are primarily driven by the sinking of colder water due to density differences across the Atlantic Ocean. It is this part of the current which is most at risk of collapsing due to climate change's impact on the Arctic. Dr van Westen says: 'The sinking is a crucial part of the AMOC, and you do not change this with the surface winds. Likewise, Professor Meric Srokosz, of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, told MailOnline: 'The physics just doesn't work.' Professor Srokosz says: 'In rather simplistic terms, think about pushing water along with your hand in the bath, it won't sink but rather flow round the sides of your hand. 'Even if you could move the water along, you still need to make it sink.' ATLANTIC OCEAN CIRCULATION PLAYS A KEY ROLE IN REGULATING THE GLOBAL CLIMATE When it comes to regulating global climate, the circulation of the Atlantic Ocean plays a key role. This is due to a constantly moving system of deep-water circulation often referred to as the Global Ocean Conveyor Belt which sends warm, salty Gulf Stream water to the North Atlantic where it releases heat to the atmosphere and warms Western Europe. The cooler water then sinks to great depths and travels all the way to Antarctica and eventually circulates back up to the Gulf Stream. This motion is fuelled by thermohaline currents – a combination of temperature and salt. It takes thousands of years for water to complete a continuous journey around the world. Researchers believe that as the North Atlantic began to warm near the end of the Little Ice Age, freshwater disrupted the system, called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Arctic sea ice, and ice sheets and glaciers surrounding the Arctic began to melt, forming a huge natural tap of fresh water that gushed into the North Atlantic. This huge influx of freshwater diluted the surface seawater, making it lighter and less able to sink deep, slowing down the AMOC system.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists finally know what caused the Atlantic Warming Hole
If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, BGR may receive an affiliate commission. For years, scientists were puzzled by a strange part of the ocean just south of Greenland that didn't behave like the rest of the planet. While ocean temperatures across the globe have climbed steadily, this region, nicknamed the Atlantic Warming Hole, has cooled by nearly half a degree Fahrenheit over the last century. Now, researchers say they may have solved the mystery. Despite its name, this location isn't warm at all. It's actually a cold zone in the North Atlantic where temperatures have dropped even as the rest of the ocean warms. That kind of anomaly has serious implications, especially for climate forecasting. The main question, though, is what could possibly cause this cooling in a rapidly warming world? Today's Top Deals Best deals: Tech, laptops, TVs, and more sales Best Ring Video Doorbell deals Memorial Day security camera deals: Reolink's unbeatable sale has prices from $29.98 According to new research published in Communications Earth and Environment, the answer lies in the slowing of a major system of ocean currents called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. This network moves warm water from the tropics northward, where it cools, sinks, and flows back south. It's one of the key drivers of the planet's climate. When the AMOC slows down, it disrupts this flow of heat. Less warm water reaches the North Atlantic, and the surface cools as a result. The researchers found that only climate models including this slowdown could recreate the observed temperature patterns in the Atlantic Warming Hole. To reach this conclusion, scientists analyzed over a century of temperature data, which serve as indirect indicators of the ocean's current strength. They also used dozens of computer models to simulate how different changes would affect ocean temperatures. Only those with a weakened AMOC lined up with the observed cooling trend. Understanding the Atlantic Warming Hole is important because this cold patch influences rainfall and wind patterns across Europe and can disrupt marine ecosystems. And as the AMOC continues to slow, some scientists warn of broader disruptions to weather and climate systems. More Top Deals Amazon gift card deals, offers & coupons 2025: Get $2,000+ free See the
Zawya
3 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Egypt: AMOC approves FY2025/26 planning budget with $20mln in net profits
Arab Finance: Alexandria Mineral Oils Company's (AMOC) board of directors has approved the estimated planning budget for the fiscal year (FY) 2025/2026, as per a disclosure. Under the new budget, the company targets to achieve net profits after tax of EGP 1.094 billion in FY 2025/2026. It also set its net sales at EGP 37.332 billion for the July 2025-June 2026 period. AMOC is an Egypt-based company that operates in the petroleum industry. The company specializes in the production of essential mineral oils, paraffin wax and its derivatives, naphtha, and butane, as well as distributes and markets them in Egypt and abroad. © 2020-2023 Arab Finance For Information Technology. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
A Mysterious Blob of Cold Water Defies Ocean Heat – Now We Know Why
Over the last decade, Earth's oceans have been warming at unprecedented rates, yet one mysterious blob of water, just south of Greenland, has defied this trend. It has stubbornly remained colder than its surrounding waters for over a century now. "People have been asking why this cold spot exists," says University of California Riverside climate scientist Wei Liu. To find out, Liu and oceanographer Kai-Yuan Li analyzed a century's worth of temperature and salinity data. They found this mysterious cool patch wasn't limited to the ocean surface, but extended 3,000 meters (around 9,840 feet) deep. And only one scenario they explored could explain both sets of data. It's the same scenario researchers have been warning the world about for years now: one of Earth's major ocean circulation systems, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is slowing down. Related: "If you look at the observations and compare them with all the simulations, only the weakened-AMOC scenario reproduces the cooling in this one region," explains Li. If the AMOC stalls, it will disrupt monsoon seasons in the tropics, and North America and Europe will experience even harsher winters. The knock-on effects will severely impact entire ecosystems and global food security. The AMOC is a large heat- and salt-driven system of ocean currents that sweeps warm salty water northward. This water cools on its wending journey north, which makes it denser. As the cooler water sinks, water from other oceans is pulled in to fill the surface, driving the cooler water back down south again. With increasing contributions of freshwater from climate change-driven glacier melt, concentrations of salt in the sea water drop, and the water becomes less dense, disrupting the sinking-with-cooling process and weakening the entire physical cycle. That's exactly what the sea surface salinity records showed. Li and Liu found the odd cold spot in the north, near the melting glaciers, had decreasing levels of salinity. Near the equator, however, salinity had increased as the weaker currents failed to stir things up as forcefully. All up, the researchers calculated AMOC has slowed from -1.01 to -2.97 million cubic meters of water per second between 1900 to 2005. "This work shows the AMOC has been weakening for more than a century, and that trend is likely to continue if greenhouse gases keep rising," Li concludes. This research was published in Communications Earth & Environment. Scientists Discover 'Goblin Prince' That Roamed With Dinosaurs Ancient Blueprint For Human Bodies Discovered in Sea Anemones Spider With No Venom Has a Deadly Trick to Poison Its Prey
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Mystery behind cold blob in the Atlantic Ocean finally solved
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Researchers have finally answered a longstanding question about a giant patch of cold water in the Atlantic Ocean, blaming a change in ocean currents for the unexpected cooling. The anomaly, located just south of Greenland, is — perhaps counterintuitively — called the North Atlantic Warming Hole, and it has been stumping scientists for years. Despite the steady warming of ocean waters around the world, this one area got colder by up to 0.5 degrees Fahrenheit (0.3 degrees Celsius) over the past century. By analyzing ocean temperatures and salinity patterns, scientists linked this mysterious cooling to the slowing of a system of ocean currents called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The changing AMOC is "a weakening of a major part of the climate system," David Thornalley, a paleoceanographer at University College London who was not involved in the new research, told Live Science in an email. The cold blob has long been a point of disagreement among oceanographers. Some believed that ocean dynamics were responsible, while others suggested atmospheric influences like aerosol pollution were the cause, according to a statement from the University of California, Riverside. These findings, published May 28 in the journal Communications Earth and Environment, could help settle the disagreement, providing evidence that ocean dynamics are responsible. Related story: Key Atlantic current is weakening much faster than scientists had predicted There are only about 20 years of direct AMOC observations, so the research team relied on other data to track older ocean movements. They used temperature and salinity data, which are correlated to current speed, to uncover the AMOC's patterns from the last century, and used 94 different ocean models to assess the changes. With a clear timeline of the AMOC's behavior in hand, the researchers found that only the models that included slowed Atlantic currents matched the real-world cooling. "It's a very robust correlation," study co-author Kai-Yuan Li, a climate scientist at the University of California, Riverside, said in the statement. Better understanding of how the AMOC is slowing will not only explain the cold blob but will also contribute to climate forecasting, the statement noted. The AMOC and the anomaly it created both influence European weather patterns, including rainfall and wind. Marine ecosystems may also be negatively affected by the changing currents, as water temperature and salinity can determine local habitability for some species. RELATED STORIES —Large patch of the Atlantic Ocean near the equator has been cooling at record speeds — and scientists can't figure out why —'We don't really consider it low probability anymore': Collapse of key Atlantic current could have catastrophic impacts, says oceanographer Stefan Rahmstorf —The Atlantic Ocean is widening. Here's why. There's also concern that the AMOC will collapse. Scientists believe that it will weaken by at least 20% by 2100, but it's unclear whether a collapse is imminent, said Nicholas Foukal, an oceanographer at the University of Georgia's Skidaway Institute of Oceanography who was not involved in the new study. "In some sense, the debate is over how bad the effects will be and whether we will have time to adapt to the changes, not whether it will happen," Foukal told Live Science in an email.
