Gulf Stream could disappear by 2025, with tremendous consequences for climate

The Gulf Stream, along with the North Atlantic Current (NAC), is the most powerful warm water current in the Northern Hemisphere, rising in the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Circle and then back, closing the cycle. In recent years, however, due to the increasingly rapid climate changes that have slowed the southern overturning of the Atlantic circulation (AMOC), it seems that this system of currents is gradually running out. In this regard, an article was published in the journal Nature Communications on 25 July, according to which the collapse of Amoc is imminent, at worst in 2025 and at best in 2095.

According to the study, the Arctic is warming more than four and a half times faster than the rest of the planet. As some scientists confirm, the ice in this area is melting at a rate of 150 billion tons per year and as a result, the ice sheet is shrinking, bringing more fresh water into the sea, that is less dense than the salt water and for that can’t down deep and therefore “push” the Gulf Stream.

The consequences of the collapse of this stream system will be tremendous and global. Without Amoc, and Gulf Stream, in fact, the climate of the European countries bordering the Atlantic would become much colder, similar to that of Canada and the northern United States. But beyond that, rainfall around the world would undergo profound changes, particularly with regard to storms in continental areas and monsoon systems, consequently influencing cultivations and also the displacement of the fish population.

Cover picture by Christoffer Engström on Unsplash.