Professor Laurie Monville

So if we warm the atmosphere, we're decreasing the extent and volume of Arctic sea ice.

And so we've seen this incredible, or horrific, I should say, decrease in summer sea ice in the Arctic extremely rapidly, more rapidly, in fact, than what the climate model can simulate.

So this adds fresh water to the system as well, meaning that the water in the sub-polar North Atlantic becomes warmer and less salty.

that means that they are less dense.

That means that they can form a bit less of those North Atlantic deep water that are the source of the air mock.

So this is what we call the salt advection feedback, which is quite a mouthful.

But basically what it says is that as you start slowing down, forming less deep water, you're bringing less of the salty water to the North Atlantic, which makes the water less dense and you form less.

So it's like reinforcing, if you wish.

As a feedback loop, yes.

So climate models all agree on the fact that the AMOC will weaken over the coming century.

And unfortunately, it seems like we have a commitment to about 2060, meaning whatever the trajectory we choose, we're kind of committed to the AMOC change to about 2060.

So this is due to the inertia in the system.

Exactly.

Oh, I am concerned because, you know, whether it collapse or not...

it will weaken.

And a weakening of, you know, 30% will lead to huge impact on global climate.

We don't need to wait for the collapse to see the effect.

So, of course, this movie is fiction and all the impacts are fiction.

So it's important to set.

But if there is a collapse of the overturning circulation, the Gulf Stream will slow down significantly.