WASHINGTON POST • February 10, 2024
A study, published Friday in the journal Science Advances, is the latest attempt to understand what scientists call the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. Evidence from Earth’s past shows that this crucial and complex ocean system has shut down before, and modeling studies such as Van Westen’s suggest that it could happen again as human greenhouse gas emissions cause the planet to warm. The ocean might be on course for a “tipping point” ending in abrupt and irreversible change.