The latest science, published 23 Mar 2015.
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2554.html
Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation
Stefan Rahmstorf, Jason E. Box, Georg Feulner, Michael E. Mann, Alexander Robinson, Scott Rutherford & Erik. J Schaffernicht
Abstract
---
Possible changes in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) provide a key source of uncertainty regarding future climate change. Maps of temperature trends over the twentieth century show a conspicuous region of cooling in the northern Atlantic. Here we present multiple lines of evidence suggesting that this cooling may be due to a reduction in the AMOC over the twentieth century and particularly after 1970. Since 1990 the AMOC seems to have partly recovered. This time evolution is consistently suggested by an AMOC index based on sea surface temperatures, by the hemispheric temperature difference, by coral-based proxies and by oceanic measurements. We discuss a possible contribution of the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet to the slowdown. Using a multi-proxy temperature reconstruction for the AMOC index suggests that the AMOC weakness after 1975 is an unprecedented event in the past millennium (p > 0.99). Further melting of Greenland in the coming decades could contribute to further weakening of the AMOC.
---
The summary ... the North Atlantic ocean is one of the few spots on the planet where temperatures have gone down.
It's a persisent cool spot. And it's because the Gulf Stream is starting to slow down. As was predicted.
No, it won't mean England or anyone freezes, like as in that dumb movie. It just means England doesn't heat up as fast from global warming. The more direct effects are to the USA, where, for various complicated reasons, it means faster sea level rise on the east coast.
RealClimate What s going on in the North Atlantic
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate2554.html
Exceptional twentieth-century slowdown in Atlantic Ocean overturning circulation
Stefan Rahmstorf, Jason E. Box, Georg Feulner, Michael E. Mann, Alexander Robinson, Scott Rutherford & Erik. J Schaffernicht
Abstract
---
Possible changes in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) provide a key source of uncertainty regarding future climate change. Maps of temperature trends over the twentieth century show a conspicuous region of cooling in the northern Atlantic. Here we present multiple lines of evidence suggesting that this cooling may be due to a reduction in the AMOC over the twentieth century and particularly after 1970. Since 1990 the AMOC seems to have partly recovered. This time evolution is consistently suggested by an AMOC index based on sea surface temperatures, by the hemispheric temperature difference, by coral-based proxies and by oceanic measurements. We discuss a possible contribution of the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet to the slowdown. Using a multi-proxy temperature reconstruction for the AMOC index suggests that the AMOC weakness after 1975 is an unprecedented event in the past millennium (p > 0.99). Further melting of Greenland in the coming decades could contribute to further weakening of the AMOC.
---
The summary ... the North Atlantic ocean is one of the few spots on the planet where temperatures have gone down.
It's a persisent cool spot. And it's because the Gulf Stream is starting to slow down. As was predicted.
No, it won't mean England or anyone freezes, like as in that dumb movie. It just means England doesn't heat up as fast from global warming. The more direct effects are to the USA, where, for various complicated reasons, it means faster sea level rise on the east coast.
RealClimate What s going on in the North Atlantic