North Atlantic current could COLLAPSE - causing Ice Age in Europe

"A key ocean current in the North Atlantic Ocean is weakening to the point of total collapse due to climate change, a new study warns. Scientists say the North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre - a massive system of rotating ocean currents south of Greenland - has been losing stability since the 1950s. It is now approaching a 'tipping point' - a critical threshold in the system which, if passed, could cause sudden and dramatic climate changes."

"The North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre, or SPG, moves heat from the tropics to the North Atlantic, helping to regulate temperatures in Europe and North America. But this movement slowing down or 'weakening' could plunge Europe into another 'Little Ice Age', a dramatic period of regional cooling like the one between 1300 to 1850. During the last Little Ice Age, rivers froze over and crops were decimated when average temperatures dropped by about 3.6°F (2°C)."

The North Atlantic Subpolar Gyre has been losing stability since the 1950s and is now approaching a tipping point that could trigger a sudden collapse. The gyre transports tropical heat northward and helps regulate temperatures in Europe and eastern North America as part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Weakening or collapse of the gyre and AMOC would reduce northward heat transport and could induce regional cooling comparable to the Little Ice Age, with average temperature drops near 2°C and consequences such as river freezing and crop failures. The timing of threshold crossing remains uncertain.

Read at Mail Online