Circulation Shut Down: The Impact of Climate Change on the World's Oceans

In our latest episode, co-hosts Peter Ravella and Tyler Buckingham welcome Yi Liu and Dr. Keith Moore as our guests to discuss their recent paper, "Climate change could cause 'disaster' in the world's oceans: Deep overturning circulation collapses with strong warming." In the paper, Yi and Keith analyze projections from 36 climate models and find that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and the Southern Meridional Overturning Circulation could slow by as much as 42% by 2100, and under worst-case warming, the SMOC could cease entirely by 2300. They explain that this could lead to a "climate disaster similar in magnitude to complete melting of the ice sheets on land." They also discuss the importance of overturning circulation in the ocean, and how it acts as a "solubility pump" and "biological pump" that helps remove CO2 from the atmosphere and supports marine ecosystems. They also stress the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to prevent the complete shutdown of deep circulation in the future. Join us as we delve into the science behind this groundbreaking research and its potential implications for our planet.