For many years, global warming activists claimed climate change would soon cause ocean currents to slow to a pace that has not been experienced in 1,600 years.
Climate activists claim computer models predicted the slowdown and that a slowdown would have disastrous consequences for marine life. They also suggested it could cause a new “mini” ice age.
A new peer reviewed study in January 2025 finds that the critical ocean current known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has not declined in the last 60 years.
Figure1. A simplified illustration of the global “conveyor belt” of ocean currents that transport heat around Earth. Red shows surface currents, and blue shows deep currents. Deep water forms where the sea surface is the densest. The background color shows sea-surface density. Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Short Summary:
Ocean currents distribute heat across the globe. The great ocean conveyor moves water in a well-known pattern, known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is seen in Figure 1.1
For many years, some scientists and climate activists have claimed the world’s ocean currents are slowing down and that global warming is to blame. They have cited computer model simulations that predicted and replicated a slowdown due to a predicted increase of freshwater due to Arctic melting.2 Slower ocean currents, they claim, would alter African and Indian rainfall patterns and impact Atlantic hurricanes. Additionally, in 2019, op-eds and studies claimed ocean currents had declined to their slowest pace in 1,600 years.3,4
Other recent scientific research, however, relying on real-world measurements, suggests that ocean currents likely sped up in recent decades, during the time period climate activists were asserting global warming had been causing ocean currents to slow.5 It seems that scientists cannot agree on whether ocean currents are speeding up or slowing down. Either way, the media asserts that human activity is causing the change, downplaying natural variations in Earth’s climate system that have driven changes in ocean currents historically. Global warming activists cannot have it both ways. Ocean currents can’t be both slowing down to record lows during the past 20 years and simultaneously also speeding up.
Whether ocean currents are slowing down or speeding up, climate change activists blame human greenhouse gas emissions for the purported trend, and, citing computer model projections, claim the changes will result in disaster.6
A January 2025 peer-reviewed paper published in Nature Communications, complicates matters further. The authors of that paper found the AMOC has neither declined nor sped up over the past 60 years.7 The results mean that the AMOC is currently more stable than expected.
Global warming activists constantly shift their claimed “climate crisis” to fit the evolving scientific evidence, rather than simply admitting the obvious: Earth’s climate and ocean currents have regularly shifted over long time periods and always will, due to relatively poorly understood natural causes. At the moment, ocean currents are likely stable, with no indication that ongoing climate change is having any measurable effect.
Shijian Hu et al., “Deep-Reaching Acceleration of Global Mean Ocean Circulation Over the Past Two Decades,” Science Advances, Volume 6, No. 6, February 2020, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32076640
Terhaar, et al., “Atlantic overturning inferred from air-sea heat fluxes indicates no decline since the 1960s,” Nature Communications, January 2025, accessed February 24, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55297-5
For many years, global warming activists claimed climate change would soon cause ocean currents to slow to a pace that has not been experienced in 1,600 years.
Climate activists claim computer models predicted the slowdown and that a slowdown would have disastrous consequences for marine life. They also suggested it could cause a new “mini” ice age.
A new peer reviewed study in January 2025 finds that the critical ocean current known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has not declined in the last 60 years.
Figure1. A simplified illustration of the global “conveyor belt” of ocean currents that transport heat around Earth. Red shows surface currents, and blue shows deep currents. Deep water forms where the sea surface is the densest. The background color shows sea-surface density. Source: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio.
Short Summary:
Ocean currents distribute heat across the globe. The great ocean conveyor moves water in a well-known pattern, known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is seen in Figure 1.1
For many years, some scientists and climate activists have claimed the world’s ocean currents are slowing down and that global warming is to blame. They have cited computer model simulations that predicted and replicated a slowdown due to a predicted increase of freshwater due to Arctic melting.2 Slower ocean currents, they claim, would alter African and Indian rainfall patterns and impact Atlantic hurricanes. Additionally, in 2019, op-eds and studies claimed ocean currents had declined to their slowest pace in 1,600 years.3,4
Other recent scientific research, however, relying on real-world measurements, suggests that ocean currents likely sped up in recent decades, during the time period climate activists were asserting global warming had been causing ocean currents to slow.5 It seems that scientists cannot agree on whether ocean currents are speeding up or slowing down. Either way, the media asserts that human activity is causing the change, downplaying natural variations in Earth’s climate system that have driven changes in ocean currents historically. Global warming activists cannot have it both ways. Ocean currents can’t be both slowing down to record lows during the past 20 years and simultaneously also speeding up.
Whether ocean currents are slowing down or speeding up, climate change activists blame human greenhouse gas emissions for the purported trend, and, citing computer model projections, claim the changes will result in disaster.6
A January 2025 peer-reviewed paper published in Nature Communications, complicates matters further. The authors of that paper found the AMOC has neither declined nor sped up over the past 60 years.7 The results mean that the AMOC is currently more stable than expected.
Global warming activists constantly shift their claimed “climate crisis” to fit the evolving scientific evidence, rather than simply admitting the obvious: Earth’s climate and ocean currents have regularly shifted over long time periods and always will, due to relatively poorly understood natural causes. At the moment, ocean currents are likely stable, with no indication that ongoing climate change is having any measurable effect.
Shijian Hu et al., “Deep-Reaching Acceleration of Global Mean Ocean Circulation Over the Past Two Decades,” Science Advances, Volume 6, No. 6, February 2020, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32076640
Terhaar, et al., “Atlantic overturning inferred from air-sea heat fluxes indicates no decline since the 1960s,” Nature Communications, January 2025, accessed February 24, 2025, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55297-5
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