Holy Shit, Batman!

Many moons ago, I first read of the possible breakdown of the Gulf Stream due to global warming. The gist of the story was that Arctic terrestrial ice, mostly Greenland, was melting, sending colder fresh water into the path of the gulf stream in the north atlantic. Sometimes referred to as a/the heat conveyor belt, the Gulf Stream is the reason Europe isn't as unpleasant as Siberia.

Edinburgh, Scotland is at 56° north. Novosibirsk, Siberia is at 55° north. So, the climate of Edinburgh is classified as maritime and the mean Jan. temperature is 39.6, while over in sunny Novosibirsk the climate is classified as humid continental and the mean Jan. temperature is 2.3. But you can tan. The difference, of course, is the friendly gulf stream.

What might happen if the gulf stream collapses? The scientists already know from the fossil and core sample records. And you don't have to go back all that far in time to see the evidence.

Unfortunately, the on-line version is mostly a pitiful slow motion animation. The dead trees text is much easier to deal with. We can go to the wiki for the overview information that's in the 'Times' article.

A 2015 study suggested that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) has weakened by 15-20% in 200 years.

The AMOC is the technical term for what we civilians know as the gulf stream. The wiki article references a 2004 piece which seems like the earliest I heard about the situation.

In simple terms, if the gulf stream collapses, Europe is a popsicle, and the East Coast Elites are chilly. Russia isn't happy either, since the warm buffer of Europe to the west fades away. How far east the cooling will go is a good question. Here's a recent techy paper on AMOC. You won't like it.