RAPID
Programme background
The thermohaline circulation
Currents in the thermohaline circulation carry warm water north from the tropics, releasing heat to the atmosphere. When they reach high latitudes, these waters have cooled, becoming more dense. Cold salty water sinks and returns towards the equator at depth.
Global warming could make it harder to form this return flow, as could changing rainfall or sea ice cover. This could shift, weaken or shut down the circulation, drawing less heat northwards. Global warming could actually bring local cooling to northwest Europe.
The programme has invested about £5m in a prototype system to continuously monitor the strength and structure of the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (MOC).
Past climates
Information stored in ice, sediments or biological structures like tree rings or coral growths, can tell us about past climates and conditions during them. Studying such palaeoclimate data should help us understand rapid climate change from the past, throwing light on future possibilities.
Simulating climate
Researchers are incorporating information about past rapid climate change into the models used to predict potential change over the next century.
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