“In the Atlantic Ocean, Subtle Shifts Hint at Dramatic Dangers.” New York Times
In early December 2023 as more than 150 countries gathered in Dubai for COP28, scientists announced that 2023 was set to be the warmest year on record.
The combined effects of El Niño and human-caused climate change are the prime culprits.
In July, the New York Times and other news outlets reported that “warming could push the Atlantic past a ‘tipping point’ this century.” (Raymond Zhong, New York Times, July 25, 2023)
Ominously, the news was not that portions of the Gulf Stream could collapse but that it is likely could occur sooner than expected.
“The last time there was a major slowdown in the mighty network of ocean currents that shapes the climate around the North Atlantic, it seems to have plunged Europe into a deep cold for over a millennium.
“That was roughly 12,800 years ago, when not many people were around to experience it. But in recent decades, human-driven warming could be causing the currents to slow once more, and scientists have been working to determine whether and when they might undergo another great weakening, which would have ripple effects for weather patterns across a swath of the globe.”
The concept that a warming atmosphere could cause an arm of the Gulf Stream to collapse is more than a little mind-boggling. But the concept is graphically portrayed in an earlier New York Times piece, “In the Atlantic Ocean, Subtle Shifts Hint at Dramatic Dangers” (Moises Velasquez-Manoff and Jeremy White, March 2, 2021). The interactive presentation illustrates the potential that melting Greenland ice will disrupt the delicate balance of the Gulf Stream, the all-important ocean conveyer belt, with dramatic impacts to the world’s climate.
It's too easy to dismiss these global impacts as beyond our control but continued inaction by our elected leaders suggests that we are making it too easy for them to dismiss these concerns.
Go to Tomorrow’s Fish to learn more about what we as anglers can do.