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The world has the potential to return to the ice age. (Photo: Twentieth Century Fox)
JAKARTA – Scientists warn of the potential for a small apocalypse to occur in the near future. The natural anomaly will send Europe and a number of places in other parts of the world back to the ice age. The image of this new ice age resembles the science fiction film The Day After Tomorrow, where humanity is caught in a terrifying global storm.
Scientists predict that in the next few years melting glaciers could close the Gulf Stream, a system of currents that brings warmth to the northern hemisphere. Without these additional heat sources, average temperatures could drop several degrees in North America, parts of Asia and Europe, and humans would see serious consequences worldwide.
A sudden closure of the Atlantic Ocean current appears more likely than ever, as computer simulations find a threatening threshold point in the future.
Reporting from the Daily Mail, Monday (12/2/2024), the authors of the study from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, do not know exactly when the collapse will occur, although previous studies predicted next year. “We are getting closer to collapse, but we are not sure how close. We are heading towards a threshold point,” said lead author Rene van Westen, a climate scientist and oceanographer at Utrecht University.
The Gulf Stream is part of a much broader system of currents, officially called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC. Described as a conveyor belt of the ocean, the current transports warm water near the sea surface northward, from the tropics to the northern hemisphere.
When warm water reaches the North Atlantic (around Europe and the UK, and the east coast of the US), it releases heat and freezes. When this ice forms, salt remains in the seawater. Due to the large amount of salt in the water, it becomes denser, sinks, and is carried south at lower depths. Ultimately, the water is drawn back to the surface and warms in a process called upwelling, completing the cycle.
Scientists think the AMOC is bringing enough warmth to the Northern Hemisphere that without it, much of Europe could plunge into a deep freeze. Previous research has shown that due to climate change, the AMOC is slowing.
This conveyor machine is off the coast of Greenland, where, as more ice melts due to climate change, more fresh water is flowing into the North Atlantic and slowing things down.