A new study by scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), and the National Oceanography Centre found that the strength of the Florida Current, the beginning of the Gulf Stream system and a key component of the global Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, has remained stable for the past four decades.
A new study by scientists at the Cooperative Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Studies (CIMAS), the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML), and the National Oceanography Centre found that the strength of the Florida Current, the beginning of the Gulf Stream system and a key component of the global Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, has remained stable for the past four decades.
There is growing scientific and public interest in the AMOC, a three-dimensional system of ocean currents that act as a “conveyer belt” to distribute heat, salt, nutrients, and carbon dioxide across the world’s oceans. Changes in the AMOC’s strength could impact global and regional climate, weather, sea level, precipitation patterns, and marine ecosystems.
In this research, measurements of the Florida Current were corrected for the secular change in the geomagnetic field to find that the Florida Current, one of the fastest currents in the ocean and an important part of the AMOC, has remained remarkably stable over the past 40 years.
Read more at University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science
Image: The Florida current, which is the beginning of the Gulfstream, is a key component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a three-dimensional system of ocean currents that act as a “conveyer belt” to distribute heat, salt, nutrients, and carbon dioxide across the world’s oceans. (Credit: Photo: Ben Kirtman, Ph.D. University of Miami Rosenstiel School)
