Earth is racing toward climate conditions that collapsed key Atlantic currents before the last ice age, study finds

Earth from space with europe and the arctic and northern africa in view.

Global warming caused vital Atlantic Ocean currents to collapse just before the last ice age, a new study suggests.

The weakening currents triggered a cascade of effects, resulting in a dramatic cooling of the Nordic Seas — the Greenland, Iceland and Norwegian seas — while the surrounding oceans grew warmer. And scientists say we could be heading toward the same thing again, as the world warms with climate change and temperatures race closer to the levels that existed before the last ice age.