Alarming signals from the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation

The National Snow and Ice Data Centre reports a recent article published on Nature about the growing risk of slowing down of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), the ideal oceanic conveyor belt of the equator's heat to northern Europe. It is in fact thanks to the AMOC that Amsterdam enjoys a milder winter than Winnipeg, Canada, despite being at the same latitude. The merging of Arctic ice may interrupt this current due to the introduction of large masses of cold water. These absorb part of the heat of the AMOC and can create a cap for such a circulation, based on delicate temperature-salinity balances, parameters that affect the water density and therefore the basis of the thermohaline circulation.