Why this country declared an ocean current collapse a national security risk

"Sometime over the next 100 years, human-driven warming could disrupt a vital ocean currentthat carries heat northward from the tropics. After this breach, most of the world would keep getting hotter - but northern Europe would cool substantially, with Iceland at the center of a deep freeze. Climate modeling shows Icelandic winter extremes plunging to an unprecedented minus-50 degrees Fahrenheit. Sea ice could surround the country for the first time since it was settled by Vikings."

"Such a scenario might seem like fodder for bad science fiction, but officials and scientists here say it canno longer can be dismissed as fantasy. Several recent scientific studies, based on simulationsof how the planet might respond as it warms, suggest that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is more vulnerable to breakdown than scientists had long believed. As a result, the notion of a frigid future has vaulted toward the top of the list of Iceland's concerns,"

Human-driven warming could disrupt the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) within the next 100 years, risking a breakdown of the northward heat transport from the tropics. If the AMOC breaches, most of the world would continue warming while northern Europe cools substantially, centering Iceland in a deep freeze with modeled winter extremes near minus-50°F and sea ice surrounding the island. Recent simulations indicate greater AMOC vulnerability than previously believed. Iceland classifies AMOC collapse as a national security risk and is confronting potential non-linear and unpredictable climate shifts that could exceed national coping capacity.

Read at The Washington Post