Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
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Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
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Re: Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
#2Non-technical articles on this study (in Dutch):
- https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2025/08/26/golfstroom-zou-halfw...
- https://nos.nl/nieuwsuur/collectie/13871/artikel/2579953-gev...
Re: Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
#3Once it tips, how screwed will Europe be?
Re: Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
#4This seems quite appropriate in relation to these predictions: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20161026-how-liars-create...
Re: Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
#5If you are wondering what happens then:
>The Gulf Stream acts like a giant conveyor belt, transporting warm water from the tropics to the North Atlantic, which gives Western Europe its unusually mild climate. A collapse would disrupt this heat transfer, causing average temperatures in regions like the UK and Scandinavia to drop by as much as 10-15°C (18-27°F) in a short period. This would lead to much colder, harsher winters and potentially widespread crop failure due to freezing conditions and a shorter growing season. Ironically, while the rest of the world continues to warm, Europe would experience a rapid cooling.
Re: Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
#6I cannot overemphasize how epochal of a crisis this would be for human civilization - the gulf stream is pretty much the only thing keeping northern europe (The UK, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, parts of germany, the Netherlands, etc) habitable by current standards.
Basically, the gulf stream is a conveyor belt that grabs nice warm water from southern latitudes (carribean, southeast atlantic ocean) and slowly moves it up the east US/Canadian coast, when it then gently arches past the tip of Greenland and Iceland before splitting and arriving in northern Europe.
To get an idea of how big of a problem the gulf stream going away would be, look at the comparative latitude of the UK and the Nordic countries compared to north America. The UK is aligned with Newfoundland in Canada, where it gets more than a little chilly. The UK is currently nice and toasty because of the gulf stream. It would be an extremely uncomfortable place without it - no more agriculture as the UK knows it now, no more nice weather. Fishing grounds destroyed, etc. The general public doesn't seem to really understand the massive impact of a potential gulf stream shutdown.
Re: Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
#7Once it tips, how screwed will Europe be?
Rome is further north than New York City. Very screwed.
Re: Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
#8[deleted]
Re: Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
#9I cannot overemphasize how epochal of a crisis this would be for human civilization - the gulf stream is pretty much the only thing keeping northern europe (The UK, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, parts of germany, the Netherlands, etc) habitable by current standards. Basically, the gulf stream is a conveyor belt that grabs nice warm water from southern latitudes (carribean, southeast atlantic oce…
And presumably there's another side of it too? Like all that hot air would have to be somewhere else if not Western Europe. That somewhere else would also have a bad time, just in the opposite direction. Very bleak.
Re: Tipping point in Gulf Stream may be reached as early as mid-century
#10I cannot overemphasize how epochal of a crisis this would be for human civilization - the gulf stream is pretty much the only thing keeping northern europe (The UK, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, parts of germany, the Netherlands, etc) habitable by current standards. Basically, the gulf stream is a conveyor belt that grabs nice warm water from southern latitudes (carribean, southeast atlantic oce…
Europe suffers from unprecedented heat waves, record after record. Wouldn't it be beneficial for temperatures to drop 10C?
I remember the winters in Eastern Europe in the 80's unbearably cold (to a child), now barely any snow and endless forest fires in summer...