As we know, it’s hot! Weather records have been broken across Europe, and wildfires abound, including one right next to the swimming pool of some friends in southern Spain, where we spent four fantastic weeks on holiday two years ago. Luckily, the flames did not spread beyond the wall, and their house survived. Sadly, many others have suffered tremendous losses of both homes and lives.
It’s not just what you see and feel that is evidence of climate change, something more subtle is happening below the surface of the world’s oceans, particularly in the North Atlantic, and the effect this could have on the UK’s and Western Europe’s future weather patterns.
We have all heard about El Niño, but many may not have heard about the Atlantic Conveyor or the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) to give it its scientific name?
The AMOC acts as a planetary climate regulator. It moves warm, salty surface water from the tropics north to Western Europe, where it cools, sinks, and returns south as a deep, cold current. It also influences the Gulf Stream, which helps the UK and Western Europe enjoy a milder climate that is better than our latitude would suggest.
However, that could be about to change – or at least over the next few years, according to a recently published report by BBC InDepth.
Like many other reports about the subject, it discusses the many ways in which the world’s oceans influence global weather patterns. As we have seen over the past few months, it appears that changes in the world’s oceans may be accelerating.
Another report from the Scottish Climate Coalition discusses the changes that may lie ahead. Of course, not everyone is convinced.
Something is changing. Exactly what that is remains open to debate, but let’s hope it’s not too late to do something about it.
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