A massive system of rotating ocean currents in the North Atlantic is behaving extremely strangely, possibly because it is approaching a tipping point, a new analysis of clam shells shows.
The North Atlantic subpolar gyre plays a key role in transporting heat to the Northern Hemisphere, and it is a part of a much larger network of ocean currents called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). But new evidence suggests the subpolar gyre has been losing stability since the 1950s, meaning the gyre's circulation could weaken substantially in the coming decades, researchers report in a study published today (Oct. 3) in the journal Science Advances.
