Miami, July 29 (RHC)-- A new study published in Nature Communications finds Atlantic Ocean currents could collapse “around mid-century,” or as soon as 2025, due to climate change, triggering catastrophic conditions around the globe. 

What’s known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation carries warm water from the tropics to the North Atlantic and sends colder water south along the ocean floor.  The warming planet is expected to push this phenomenon over a “tipping point” as fresh water from melting Arctic ice disrupts and weakens the current. 

This could set in motion rapid and disastrous changes to the climate, including disrupting rains that feed crops for billions of people across South Asia, Latin America and West Africa; a drop in temperatures in northern Europe; higher temperatures in the tropics; and faster sea-level rise along the coasts of North America and Europe.  It also further threatens the Amazon and Antarctic ice sheets.

This comes as water temperatures in Florida soar past 100 degrees, triggering signs of mass coral bleaching and die-off.  The water in the Florida Keys hit a world record high of 101.1 degrees this week.