What is it about?
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is an important large-scale ocean circulation that is projected to weaken under anthropogenic climate change. In this work, I explore how the AMOC responds to different rates of atmospheric CO2 change. I find that the circulation weakens more when the rate of CO2 change is faster, even when the total amount of CO2 change is the same, and that this can be explained by a positive feedback between the ocean and Arctic sea ice.
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Why is it important?
While the majority of policy efforts focus on limiting the globe to a certain level of warming, this article highlights how the rate of warming---separately from the amount of warming---is itself a key driver of the climate system that should also be taken into account by policymakers and scientists.
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This page is a summary of: The effect of CO
2
ramping rate on the transient weakening of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2411357121.
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