Hottest years on record

[begreen]

It's looking like 2024 may match 2023's dubious achievement as the hottest year on record. This trend does not bode well for the planet. There are already signs of systemic change due to these consistent high temperatures. Most troubling may be the cold water sink that is forming along the western Atlantic coast. There is growing concern that this may affect the AMOC. It's slowing down and faster than predicted. The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a large system of ocean currents that transfers warm ocean water northward. This water cools on its winding journey north, which makes it denser. As the cold water sinks, water from other oceans is pulled in to fill the surface, driving the circulatory system back down south again. If this convective current gets disrupted, the consequences for Europe will be dire.

In Record-Hottest Year, U.S. Voters Will Decide Climate’s Path Forward

Global temperatures through September point to 2024 besting 2023 as the hottest year on record. How many future years set records depends in part on the outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election

www.scientificamerican.com

Physics-based early warning signal shows that AMOC is on tipping course

 

[Wisco Shepherd]

If this convective current gets disrupted, the consequences for Europe will be dire.

I am not familiar with this, what will the effects for Europe be?

 

[begreen]

The Gulf Stream is what warms England, Ireland and northern Europe. Without it, these areas would be much colder. This would affect crops dramatically. Globaly it would be quite disruptive of weather patterns that we take for granted.

Warning of a forthcoming collapse of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation - Nature Communications

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a major tipping element in the climate system. Here, data-driven estimators for the time of tipping predict a potential AMOC collapse mid-century under the current emission scenario.

www.nature.com

Earth is racing toward climate conditions that collapsed key Atlantic currents before the last ice age, study finds

Global warming during the Last Interglacial period caused so much Arctic ice to melt that Atlantic currents collapsed — and scientists say these are the conditions we could be heading toward.

www.livescience.com

 

[stoveliker]

North West Europe is far more moderate in climate now as compared to other areas with this latitude because of prevailing western winds over a warm ocean.
Have the ocean heat transport cease, and it'll be like "the little ice age" or worse in Europe.

See

Little Ice Age - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Section causes -ocean flow.

 

[begreen]

From the models it looks like the temperature drop may be more extreme than the Little Ice Age. One study indicated a drop of about 5ºF per decade in the UK. One thing all agree on is that an AMOC collapse would be irreversible in terms of a human lifetime.

Atlantic Ocean is headed for a tipping point − once melting glaciers shut down the Gulf Stream, we would see extreme climate change within decades, study shows

Scientists now have a better understanding of the risks ahead and a new early warning signal to watch for.

theconversation.com

 

[gthomas785]

For some reason, people get mad whenever I reshare this.

 

[walhondingnashua]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2024/11/04/drought-us-record-conditions-flood-forecast/

87% of the US is in some level of drought classification...

 

[begreen]

Mt. Fuji in Japan is snow free at the start of November for the first time in their recorded weather history.

Japan's Mount Fuji remains snowless later in year than ever recorded before

Japan's highest mountain typically gets snow by early October, but there has been unusually warm weather this year.

www.bbc.com