Europe Could Freeze or Burn If Atlantic Current Flows Go Awry

Climate change is putting a consequential ocean system at threat

- LARA WILLIAMS

To most people, adapting to climate change means preparing for warmer temperatures. It's why we're finally getting some long-overdue reservoirs in the UK, why Kent now has an abundance of vineyards and plucky growers are trying to produce oil from locally grown olives in Lincolnshire.

But what if the climate crisis instead plunges us into a world of frozen winters and parched summers, rendering those agricultural investments worthless? This risk has been greatly underestimated, as well as poorly communicated—and [for Europe] it all depends on what happens in the Atlantic Ocean.

[The European] weather system relies on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). This vital ocean-current system transports warm water northwards before returning south with a flow of deep, cold water. The resulting heat transfer helps western Europe remain much milder than other places on the same latitudes, such as Siberia, while also playing a role in global rainfall patterns and phytoplankton distribution (and therefore fish stocks and underwater biodiversity).