Doctor of Physics warns about sea currents: “Is an ice age coming?”

Sea currents, also called ocean currents, They are masses of water that move in specific routes. They are superficial and, when they can be seen underwater, it is a reflection of what happens on the surface.

Ocean currents have certain characteristics: they can have one type of temperature or another, they can be generated by different factors or they are measured in meters per second. And they can be Cold sea currents and warm ocean currents.

But the truth is that ocean currents They are more than mere movements of water. And currents are the vital heartbeat of our planet, regulating climate, nurturing ecosystems and guiding human history through their oceanic routes.

Mar Gómez, Doctor in Physics and Head of Meteorology at ‘eltiempo.es’, explains how the Atlantic Meridional Circulation (AMOC) works: “Warm, salty and dense water flows northwards and cools down and sink below the water at higher latitudes, releasing heat into the atmosphere.

“When this happens and the water sinks, it moves back south, where it warms again and the cycle repeats”he continues. The AMOC is a vital current for regulating Earth’s climate and is “the Atlantic branch of the terminhaline circulation.”

And last February a study was published showing that the collapse of the AMOC may be closer than we thought, but what would happen if it did collapse? “Reply to EuropeFrom Great Britain to Scandinavia, devastating impacts would be experienced, such as a drop in winter temperatures by several tens of degrees over a century (between 10-30ºC in winter).Mar explains.

“The impact will be regional, not global. That is, the planet will continue to warm because it will be the effect of that warming, but in northern Europe we will get a sudden cooling,” the expert adds. “There is also talk of sea level rise in the Atlantic Floods of up to one metre would occur, inundating many coastal cities, and temperatures would fluctuate more erratically around the world,” he says.

This announcement may be shocking to many, which is why most of us ask ourselves: when will it be? “We don’t know, although some studies suggest so will be sooner than expectedIn a few decades or this century,” March replies. “Of course, if it starts…it’s irreversible.”He finishes by saying not very optimistically.