James Stewart

It's like a really fast highway, part of the journey taken by the warm water through the Amok, as it travels from the South Atlantic to the far north. When that highway ends, the warm water takes a different, smaller route, continuing its journey northwards. As it moves through the Atlantic, it loses heat through evaporation.

This leaves behind cooler, saltier water, which eventually hits the fresher waters of the North Atlantic. The Gulf Stream is caused by a large system of circular currents and powerful winds called an oceanic gyre. There are five oceanic gyres on Earth. The North Atlantic Gyre, South Atlantic Gyre, North Pacific Gyre, the South Pacific Gyre, and the Indian Ocean Gyre.

This leaves behind cooler, saltier water, which eventually hits the fresher waters of the North Atlantic. The Gulf Stream is caused by a large system of circular currents and powerful winds called an oceanic gyre. There are five oceanic gyres on Earth. The North Atlantic Gyre, South Atlantic Gyre, North Pacific Gyre, the South Pacific Gyre, and the Indian Ocean Gyre.

This leaves behind cooler, saltier water, which eventually hits the fresher waters of the North Atlantic. The Gulf Stream is caused by a large system of circular currents and powerful winds called an oceanic gyre. There are five oceanic gyres on Earth. The North Atlantic Gyre, South Atlantic Gyre, North Pacific Gyre, the South Pacific Gyre, and the Indian Ocean Gyre.

Given its location on Earth, the Gulf Stream is part of the North Atlantic Gyre. Now we've cleared up our currents, let's focus back in on the AMOC, and more specifically, the impact climate change is having and has had on it. As we touched on at the start, everything on Earth is connected, and the same is true here.

Given its location on Earth, the Gulf Stream is part of the North Atlantic Gyre. Now we've cleared up our currents, let's focus back in on the AMOC, and more specifically, the impact climate change is having and has had on it. As we touched on at the start, everything on Earth is connected, and the same is true here.

Given its location on Earth, the Gulf Stream is part of the North Atlantic Gyre. Now we've cleared up our currents, let's focus back in on the AMOC, and more specifically, the impact climate change is having and has had on it. As we touched on at the start, everything on Earth is connected, and the same is true here.

From that big clue we talked about earlier, the big coal blob that's the only place on Earth in the last 20 years to have cooled, Well, that's not just a surface cooling. That cooling extends down to a depth of 2,000 meters and is sort of the smoking gun to a slowing AMOC. You see, as well as that area getting colder, its salinity is also declining.

From that big clue we talked about earlier, the big coal blob that's the only place on Earth in the last 20 years to have cooled, Well, that's not just a surface cooling. That cooling extends down to a depth of 2,000 meters and is sort of the smoking gun to a slowing AMOC. You see, as well as that area getting colder, its salinity is also declining.

From that big clue we talked about earlier, the big coal blob that's the only place on Earth in the last 20 years to have cooled, Well, that's not just a surface cooling. That cooling extends down to a depth of 2,000 meters and is sort of the smoking gun to a slowing AMOC. You see, as well as that area getting colder, its salinity is also declining.

It's actually at its lowest levels since measurements began 120 years ago. Because of this, the water is an awful lot less dense. And that's really significant because it's becoming much harder for that water to sink down and join up with the deep colder currents we talked about before.

It's actually at its lowest levels since measurements began 120 years ago. Because of this, the water is an awful lot less dense. And that's really significant because it's becoming much harder for that water to sink down and join up with the deep colder currents we talked about before.

It's actually at its lowest levels since measurements began 120 years ago. Because of this, the water is an awful lot less dense. And that's really significant because it's becoming much harder for that water to sink down and join up with the deep colder currents we talked about before.

One of the main reasons scientists think this could be is there's lots more fresh water now melting off ice into our oceans due to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the main reasons scientists think this could be is there's lots more fresh water now melting off ice into our oceans due to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

One of the main reasons scientists think this could be is there's lots more fresh water now melting off ice into our oceans due to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

At least two studies analyzing state-of-the-art climate models and observations have shown that the recent North Atlantic warming hole is of anthropogenic origin and is caused by reduced northward oceanic heat transport related to greenhouse gas emissions. One of the main reasons we're able to attribute some blame towards humans, as alluded to there, is by looking back to the past.

At least two studies analyzing state-of-the-art climate models and observations have shown that the recent North Atlantic warming hole is of anthropogenic origin and is caused by reduced northward oceanic heat transport related to greenhouse gas emissions. One of the main reasons we're able to attribute some blame towards humans, as alluded to there, is by looking back to the past.

At least two studies analyzing state-of-the-art climate models and observations have shown that the recent North Atlantic warming hole is of anthropogenic origin and is caused by reduced northward oceanic heat transport related to greenhouse gas emissions. One of the main reasons we're able to attribute some blame towards humans, as alluded to there, is by looking back to the past.

To understand conditions before regular temperature measurements began, we must turn to proxy data. The traces of past climate change left behind in slowly accumulating archives, things like ice sheets or seafloor sediments. Proxies like the ratio of oxygen isotopes found in the microscopic skeletons that make up much of the deep floor sediment provide a record of past surface water temperatures.