https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/scientists-issue-warning-over-concerning-101500874.html
A new study indicates that the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation — which would be a catastrophic climate event — can no longer be considered an unlikely scenario.
What’s happening?
Scientists have demonstrated through new analysis that the collapse of a crucial system of ocean currents due to human-caused pollution is far more likely than previously thought. According to The Guardian, the new study shows that “the tipping point that makes an AMOC shutdown inevitable is likely to be passed within a few decades,” though “the collapse itself may not happen until 50 to 100 years later.”
Researchers from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, and the National Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom published the study in the journal Environmental Research Letters in August. It concludes, according to a release from the Potsdam Institute, that unless heat-trapping pollution is meaningfully reduced, the AMOC “could shut down after the year 2100.”
”The deep overturning in the northern Atlantic slows drastically by 2100 and completely shuts off thereafter in all high-emission scenarios, and even in some intermediate and low-emission scenarios,” Drijfhout continued. “That shows the shutdown risk is more serious than many people realize.”
Co-author Stefan Rahmstorf told The Guardian that he previously described the possibility that the AMOC would collapse due to rising global temperatures at around 10 percent — now he said he might describe it as closer to 25 percent.
He also warned that the point of no return is imminent without drastic action.
Dire climate warning!
Scientists issue warning over concerning phenomenon that could cause powerful ocean current to shut down completely:
'We have to act really fast'https://t.co/uVKr7Tmxos pic.twitter.com/tluDCDBOA0
— Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) September 13, 2025
