Critical Ocean System Could Collapse <br />Due to Climate Change, , Study Finds.<br />The study was conducted by scientists with the <br />Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, .<br />and was published in the journal <br />'Nature and Climate Change' on Aug. 5.<br />Its findings indicate that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) could <br />be at risk for collapse.<br />The AMOC regulates the stability of the Atlantic Ocean by acting as a temperature conveyor belt, .<br />moving warmer waters to colder regions and colder waters to warmer regions.<br />The collapse of this vital system would have a monumental effect on regions including Western Europe, .<br />North and South America.<br />Western Africa and India.<br />Researchers say that the <br />AMOC is the weakest <br />it's been in 1,000 years.<br />This most recent study links the AMOC's instability directly to human-caused climate change.<br />Every gram of extra greenhouse gas in the atmosphere will increase to the probability of an AMOC collapse in the future, .., Niklas Boers, Study Author, Potsdam Institute <br />for Climate Impact Research, via CNN.<br />... so emitting as little as possible, both on individual but of course also on collective and international level, is the key, Niklas Boers, Study Author, Potsdam Institute <br />for Climate Impact Research, via CNN.<br />The AMOC has moved toward the critical threshold at which it <br />may collapse, Niklas Boers, Study Author, Potsdam Institute <br />for Climate Impact Research, via CNN.<br />The research was published just days before the <br />U.N.'s International Panel on Climate Change is set to release findings of its own major study on Aug. 9.
