Idea for August 2026: AMOC

I discovered this when reading about this summer’s heatwaves. It’s not widely known, but it’s a system that all of us in northern Europe depend on for survival. And it’s under threat.

It’s the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. This is a massive system of currents that brings warm water near the surface towards the north, and takes cold water back southwards, deep in the ocean. It keeps Europe – which is actually very far north – mild and liveable.

Scientists worry that climate change could weaken the AMOC, or even lead to a collapse in the system, which paradoxically could mean much colder weather in Britain.

This report on research into the AMOC includes the simplest explanation I’ve ever read about the weather:

The tropics receive far more energy from the sun than the poles. That imbalance sets both the air and the ocean in motion. Winds, storms, rainfall and currents are all, in different ways, the planet trying to even out that difference.

The AMOC is one of the biggest rebalancers, and should be better known.

Image: Stefan Rahmstorf, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons