The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) plays a critical role in regulating Earth’s climate. Therefore, a potential future weakening or even collapse of the AMOC could have major climatic and societal impacts. While some of these changes and impacts have been investigated, their wide-ranging nature has led to scattered knowledge with limited intercomparisons between different lines of evidence. In this session, we bridge multiple disciplines and bring together the latest knowledge on AMOC changes and their impacts.
We welcome all contributions that investigate changes in the AMOC and their Earth System impacts. These can include direct physical impacts, such as atmospheric, oceanic, or cryospheric; biogeochemical as well as marine and terrestrial ecosystem responses; and socioeconomic impacts, such as health, agricultural, and economic repercussions. Contributions can cover any timescale, from paleoclimate and the recent past to future projections, from seasonal and decadal changes to long-term (centennial to millennial), both past and future. In addition, the AMOC can be studied in a range of settings, from internal variability to forced trends or abrupt/tipping behaviour, affecting both mean and extreme variables.
We call for contributions employing a broad range of tools, from Earth System, regional, and simple models to reanalyses and observations/proxies, as well as socioeconomic and impact-related models. Finally, as the Atlantic subpolar gyre (SPG) is an ocean system whose strength, stability, and impact on the climate are strongly connected to the AMOC, we also welcome contributions discussing the impacts of SPG changes on the Earth System.
Thomas Froelicher