A recent Yahoo News article, “Experts warn ongoing concern with Atlantic Ocean will be direct threat to dozens of nations: ‘Consequences for at least 1,000 years to come,’” by Timothy McGill, claims a new modeling study shows that a collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC,) would intensify Southern Europe’s drought risk, producing consequences lasting “at least 1,000 years.” It presents this as an increasingly likely, looming climate catastrophe. This is false. There is no direct observational evidence that the AMOC has changed according to real-world data finding that the AMOC has not declined over the past 60 years.
The article declares, “The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is expected to weaken or even collapse under anthropogenic climate change,” quoting Stefan Rahmstorf warning, “[i]f the AMOC shuts down, this would have consequences for at least 1,000 years to come.” It also leans on the familiar “tipping point” language, wrongly implying a near-term collapse of the Atlantic conveyer belt would plunge the world into a period of irreversible climate disruption.
