Too much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere can shut down major ocean current. Global warming may disrupt the ocean motion.
Shutting down of the ocean current may cause temperature to plummet to 7 degrees during the winter time in northwestern Europe and rainfall patterns will shift.
Yale University climate scientist Wei Liu and other researchers in had conducted a study. By doubling the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the study showed a shutting down of the Atlantic current in three hundred years.
Although the rise in carbon dioxide in that amount is not realistically possible, it does demonstrate the unstable state of the Atlantic current. According to the scientists, the next step would be to use more realistic rise in global temperature.
The Atlantic current or also known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is a massive conveyor belt that carries warm water from South Atlantic northward into the North Atlantic.
Global warming will make the water less dense and less likely to sink this in turn slows the Atlantic current as reported in ScienceNews.
The ocean has a profound influence on climate. Covering roughly around 71 percent of the world's surface, the oceans are an integral part of our climate system.
These vast bodies of water absorb the sun's radiation as much as twice that of both the land surface and the atmosphere's capacity to absorb heat. The ocean currents move vast amount of heat around the world.
The heat transported to the northern North Atlantic is roughly equivalent to one million power stations and the current is essentially in delivery the absorbed heat back into the atmosphere as written by Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf.
A study by Professor Sybren Drijfhout from the University of Southhampton indicates that if these currents stopped, the Earth would cool for about 20 years and we will experience a little ice age as reported by Daily Mail Online
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