3 ms·

So say it does collapse, in layman's terms what does that mean?

colechristensen 3y ago
Europe would get cold. Ocean currents bring lots of warm water from the south towards Europe making it quite a bit warmer than other places at similar latitudes. Cities in Europe are quite a bit further north than most people think. Lots of other side effects as well would happen but be less known or surely predicted by models.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- novaRom 3y ago
  Clear skies and drier weather should result in reduced cloud cover, which allows more direct sunlight to reach the surface during the day, leading to warmer temperatures. During the night, the lack of cloud cover also means there is less insulation to trap the heat accumulated during the day. This can lead to hot days and relatively cooler nights, which can be characteristic of certain climates, like in arid or desert regions.
- CPLX 3y ago
  Not just colder, also drier right?
novaRom 3y ago
Current stable pattern changes into another stable one, probably quickly. Or it may split into two independent stable patterns. It will not disappear. It may result in long term climatic changes in different geographies, especially during transition, although it would be rather quick.
- thumbuddy 3y ago
  Thanks for explaining that. I guess what I'm asking is... Will the sea life likely be okay? Human life? More hurricanes? No one knows?
pvaldes 3y ago
Hurricane season on steroids for example if all this warm water accumulate in Florida instead to move to France.
dredmorbius 3y ago
For comparison, the El Niño / La Niña cycle, a/k/a the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) drives patterns of drought and excessive precipitation and severe storm activity across the Pacific basin, including Australia, Japan, and North & South America, with effects being felt into the Gulf of Mexico and by some accounts, Europe. Those result from shifts in sea-surface temperatures of about 0.5 °C / 1 °F. AMOC is part of a tremendous thermal-energy circulation system from the tropics to the arctic within the Atlantic Ocean, and tying to global ocean circulation patterns. Specific impacts are difficult to identify, but could well be hotter tropics (and likely: stronger and more frequent hurricanes and extreme storms), colder North Atlantic (including a loss of the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream on Northern European climates, hence potentially far colder and more severe winters). There are also likely impacts on marine life, agriculture, general wildlife patterns (plant and animal), amongst others. Regional sea-level rise is another possible impact (through thermal expansion if I understand correctly). Effectively: a predictable and beneficial pattern to which human and nonhuman life and existence has evolved over many thousands of years, if not longer, may be on the verge of complete disruption. That's an event without precedent for on the order of 10,000 years (since the end of the last major glaciation period). <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ni%C3%B1o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ni%C3%B1o> More on prospective impacts of an AMOC collapse: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturning_circulation#Impacts_of_a_slowdown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturnin...> <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1181-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1181-8> <http://phys.org/news/2016-01-greenland-ice-sheet-affect-global.html http://phys.org/news/2016-01-greenland-ice-sheet-affect-glob...>

Europe would get cold. Ocean currents bring lots of warm water from the south towards Europe making it quite a bit warmer than other places at similar latitudes. Cities in Europe are quite a bit further north than most people think. Lots of other side effects as well would happen but be less known or surely predicted by models.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
novaRom 3y ago
Clear skies and drier weather should result in reduced cloud cover, which allows more direct sunlight to reach the surface during the day, leading to warmer temperatures. During the night, the lack of cloud cover also means there is less insulation to trap the heat accumulated during the day. This can lead to hot days and relatively cooler nights, which can be characteristic of certain climates, like in arid or desert regions.
CPLX 3y ago
Not just colder, also drier right?

novaRom 3y ago

Current stable pattern changes into another stable one, probably quickly. Or it may split into two independent stable patterns. It will not disappear. It may result in long term climatic changes in different geographies, especially during transition, although it would be rather quick.

thumbuddy 3y ago
Thanks for explaining that. I guess what I'm asking is... Will the sea life likely be okay? Human life? More hurricanes? No one knows?

pvaldes 3y ago

Hurricane season on steroids for example if all this warm water accumulate in Florida instead to move to France.

dredmorbius 3y ago

For comparison, the El Niño / La Niña cycle, a/k/a the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) drives patterns of drought and excessive precipitation and severe storm activity across the Pacific basin, including Australia, Japan, and North & South America, with effects being felt into the Gulf of Mexico and by some accounts, Europe. Those result from shifts in sea-surface temperatures of about 0.5 °C / 1 °F. AMOC is part of a tremendous thermal-energy circulation system from the tropics to the arctic within the Atlantic Ocean, and tying to global ocean circulation patterns. Specific impacts are difficult to identify, but could well be hotter tropics (and likely: stronger and more frequent hurricanes and extreme storms), colder North Atlantic (including a loss of the moderating influence of the Gulf Stream on Northern European climates, hence potentially far colder and more severe winters). There are also likely impacts on marine life, agriculture, general wildlife patterns (plant and animal), amongst others. Regional sea-level rise is another possible impact (through thermal expansion if I understand correctly). Effectively: a predictable and beneficial pattern to which human and nonhuman life and existence has evolved over many thousands of years, if not longer, may be on the verge of complete disruption. That's an event without precedent for on the order of 10,000 years (since the end of the last major glaciation period). <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ni%C3%B1o https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Ni%C3%B1o> More on prospective impacts of an AMOC collapse: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturning_circulation#Impacts_of_a_slowdown https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_meridional_overturnin...> <https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1181-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1181-8> <http://phys.org/news/2016-01-greenland-ice-sheet-affect-global.html http://phys.org/news/2016-01-greenland-ice-sheet-affect-glob...>