Advancing our understanding of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC)

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation stretches thousands of miles. Credit: NOAA

A recent study by scientists at AOML found that extensive weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) occurred in the 2000s, but has paused since the early 2010s due to a tug-of-war between the natural and anthropogenic signals. 

The AMOC is the Atlantic component of the global ocean conveyor belt, a large-scale ocean circulation system that carries heat, salt, carbon, and other biogeochemical elements along its paths. Thus, the AMOC is a crucial component of the global heat, salt, nutrients and carbon balances in the ocean which affects regional climate, sea-level, and marine ecosystems.

The current state-of-the-art climate models suggest that the anthropogenic weakening of the AMOC has been happening since the mid-1980s. However, direct observational records for the past two decades have shown remarkable resilience of the AMOC.