The slowdown of the Gulf Stream portends disastrous consequences for the global climate

Arab Weather - More than a thousand years ago, the Gulf Stream water was not weak as it is in these years, this is the result of a new study conducted by scientists from Ireland, Britain and Germany, where researchers found confirmed evidence of an unprecedented slowdown of the Gulf Stream, which raised scientists' fears of The consequences of this slowdown, which will have a direct impact on global weather and climate patterns.

What is the Gulf Stream?

The Gulf Stream is one of the most powerful warm Atlantic currents, as it acts as a giant conveyor belt, carrying warm surface waters from the Gulf of Mexico at the equator to the north, and there the water of the current loses its heat and falls to the sea floor, and then flows south again. With cold, low-salinity deep waters.

The Gulf Stream is a strong and fast water current, as it carries about 20 million cubic meters of water per second, meaning that it is a hundred times more powerful than the Amazon, and the circular flow of the current provides generally moderate weather in North America and northern Europe, but as the Gulf Stream slows down, it will decrease. Heat that is transferred to the north, and this is a result of climate change caused by humans.

Why is the Gulf Stream slowing down?

Climate models have long predicted a slowdown in the Gulf Stream system, in response to global warming caused by greenhouse gases, and this may be the cause of the current weakness in the movement of the current, as the circulation of the water current is mainly driven by deep convection, caused by differences in the density of ocean water, so that The warm, salty water moves from south to north, as it cools and becomes denser, descending into the deeper ocean layers and flowing back to the south.

Global warming impedes this mechanism. Increased precipitation and melting of the Greenland ice sheet add more fresh water to the ocean surface. This reduces salinity and water density, preventing it from subsiding and weakening the flow of current.

Consequences of the weakening of the Gulf Stream

The weakness of the Gulf Stream flow may be related to the exceptionally large cooling in the North Atlantic Ocean during the past 100 years, and climate models predict this cooling as a result of the weak flow of the Gulf Stream, and the decrease in the amount of heat transferred to this region.

For people living on both sides of the Atlantic, the consequences of the slowing down of the Gulf Stream can be manifold, as the surface flow of the current to the north causes water bodies to shift to the right away from the eastern coast of the United States, due to the effect of the Earth's rotation, which leads to a deflection in the movement of currents. To the right in the northern hemisphere, and to the left in the southern hemisphere, but this effect weakens as the current slows, and this may lead to more water accumulation on the eastern coast of the United States, and a rise in sea level.

In Europe, a further slowdown in the flow of the Gulf Stream could lead to more extreme weather events, such as changing the course of the winter storm coming from the Atlantic Ocean, which could lead to intensification and increased intensity. Other studies have found potential consequences of extreme heat waves or reduced summer precipitation.

Scientists are still studying the other possible consequences of weakening and slowing the current on, and it may become catastrophic, as modern climate models predict that with the continuing effects of global warming, the Gulf Stream system will weaken by 34% to 45% by the year 2100, and this could bring us closer to a tipping point. And serious disturbance in the flow of current.