An Atlantic ocean current system, that has been weakened by global warming, could recover over time if the climate cools, reports Reuters.
A study by the Danish Meteorological Institute has found no sign there was an irreversible tipping point for The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which brings warm water from the tropics towards the Arctic and helps keep Europe’s winters mild.
However, it also said that the Greenland ice sheet that contributes to weakening the AMOC as it pours cold freshwater into the ocean could not be restored once it had melted, even if the warming trend was reversed.
A disrupted AMOC could still destabilise global rainfall patterns and accelerate coastal sea-level rise.
The study said the AMOC could slow to about 6 million cubic metres of water per second from around 17 million at around 7 degrees Celsius of global warming.
Chuncheng Guo, Lead Author, said: “In our model, we do not see a tipping point leading to a collapse. The AMOC gradually weakens, but we find that it also immediately regains its strength if global warming is reversed.”
However, he also warned that even though recovery starts as soon as temperatures fall, it could take several centuries to finish, all while the effects of a weakened current would persist.
The UN’s environmental body said in September global temperature rises are set to exceed the key threshold of 1.5C “within a few years”.
Governments committed to keeping temperature rises within 1.5C to limit the impacts of extreme weather under the 2015 Paris Agreement.
