Over the past 45 years, the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet has had a significant impact on the North Atlantic Current, according to the journal Nature Climate Change. The North Atlantic Current is a powerful warm oceanic current that is the northeastern extension of the Gulf Stream.
Through research on coral, ocean floor sediments, and ice, scientists have been able to reconstruct the changes that have taken place over the course of the year since 1900. The results of the work showed that with the course there were changes that had never been observed before: it began to slow down and cool.
This is due to global warming, which is melting the Greenland ice sheet. The colder and less saline water from this melt stays in the upper layers of the water masses and meets the warm water of the Gulf Stream, causing it to slow down and cool.
Cooling does not threaten a new ice age, but can affect the climate in North America and Europe. Moreover, climatologists are talking about the need to take into account the changes in the current when building new climate models.
If we still talk about the consequences, then it is obvious that the ocean ecosystem, fishing in all its manifestations, and the well-being of coastal cities will suffer first. In addition, slowing currents will accelerate the rise in sea levels. But this is not the most troubling prospect.
If the melting of Greenland's glaciers accelerates at the same rate as in recent years, then there is a fairly high probability that the Atlantic conveyor will completely stop, which means that the mild winters in Europe will be over.
Due to global climate change, millions of people will have to leave their homes. And all this is not a scenario for another fantastic movie, but a model of the development of reality, which we can witness in the foreseeable future.
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