By Intellinews – MSN
A major ocean current in the Southern Hemisphere has reversed direction for the first time in recorded history, in what climatologists are calling a “catastrophic” tipping point in the global climate system.
The development, which was confirmed by Spanish marine scientists at El Institut de Ciències del Mar (ICM-CSIC) in Barcelona, has triggered widespread alarm among climate scientists due to its potential to accelerate global warming and destabilise weather patterns worldwide.
“The stunning reversal of ocean circulation in the Southern Hemisphere confirms the global climate system has entered a catastrophic phase,” said climatologist Ben See in a post on social media.
The collapse involves the deep overturning circulation in the South Atlantic — part of the global conveyor belt of ocean currents — which typically pulls cold, nutrient-rich water up from the ocean floor and drives planetary heat distribution.
The study, published on July 2, identifies a collapse and reversal of the Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC) in the South Atlantic — a key part of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).
This current system plays a crucial role in regulating global temperatures and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide in the deep ocean. The ICM’s data show that the flow of the DWBC current reversed from northward to southward for several consecutive months in 2023 — the first such event in 30 years of continuous monitoring.
“This is an unprecedented observation and a potential game-changer,” said physicist and lead author Dr Marilena Oltmanns, who warned the changes could “alter the Southern Ocean’s capacity to sequester heat and carbon.”
According to the ICM-CSIC, the reversal is likely linked to an ongoing weakening of the Antarctic overturning circulation, a deep-ocean process driven by the formation of cold, salty water masses near Antarctica. That system has slowed by up to 40% since the late 1990s, and the new findings suggest it may be destabilising regional ocean dynamics more rapidly than expected.
There has been a lot of speculation that the whole AMOC (otherwise known as the Gulf Stream), could come to a halt. The AMOC brings warm water to Europe from the equator, and when it stops flowing that will lead to a mini-ice age in Europe with winter temperatures dropping by 10-30C. While scientists are 98% certain that the AMOC will stop flowing by 2100, recent studies suggest that the collapse could come as soon as this year, or at least in the next few decades.
The ICM report warns that the reversal of the DWBC could also unleash vast amounts of carbon dioxide currently trapped in deep-ocean reservoirs. The reversal will undermine the ocean’s role as a carbon sink, which currently absorbs about 25% of all anthropogenic CO? emissions.
“This could double current atmospheric CO? concentrations by releasing carbon that has been stored in the deep ocean for centuries,” the report said. Such a release would likely obliterate existing climate targets, as the additional emissions would overwhelm current carbon budgets and render mitigation strategies based on gradual reductions, obsolete.
“The planet is sending us increasingly clear signals that we are crossing critical thresholds,” the ICM warned, characterising the event as a shift from “chronic climate stress” to “acute systemic breakdown.”
The reversal threatens to weaken the ocean’s crucial role as a carbon sink — one of the Earth’s key natural defences against rising atmospheric CO2 — and will also dramatically disrupt global weather systems, sea level patterns, and marine ecosystems.
The Mediterranean is as hot as bathwater
The event coincides with an unprecedented marine heatwave in the Mediterranean. A Spanish metrological buoy recorded a sea temperature of 31C on July 4 – as hot as a lukewarm bath. The northwestern Mediterranean Sea has recorded a temperature anomaly of +6.21°C above average. The northwestern Mediterranean Sea is currently 6.21°C above the 1982–2015 average, creating what scientists have called “bathwater” conditions in a historically temperate basin. Warmer surface temperatures could further stall or disrupt ocean currents, feeding a dangerous feedback loop of warming and current instability.
While ocean circulations have shifted in the deep past due to glacial cycles, the current reversal is the first to occur in modern times due to anthropogenic climate change. Researchers now warn of increased risk of abrupt changes in monsoon patterns, fisheries collapse, and a rapid sea-level rise in the Southern Hemisphere. They are calling for immediate global attention and a reassessment of climate adaptation strategies in light of what may be a new and more volatile climate regime.
“The stunning reversal of ocean circulation in the Southern Hemisphere confirms the global climate system has entered a catastrophic phase,” said climatologist Ben See on social media.
The reversal of the current will bring cold water up from the deep in which is trapped CO?. That means the reversal, “could double current atmospheric CO? concentrations by releasing carbon that has been stored in the deep ocean for centuries,” the El Institut de Ciencies del Mar said.
“The planet is sending us increasingly clear signals that we are crossing critical thresholds,” the Institut added.
I don’t know when we’ll come to our senses.
Bad enough we haven’t nutcases running the government!
I forwarded this to family n friends, people who will understand what this means. The krill population threatened was bad enough to hear. Nat. ure is interconnected. People are as well but . .
Hello, so I’m reading this and I’m wondering how bad is it? Because you know how sometimes they say “this is it” or “this is the one that will finish us”. Some of the stuff in this article I don’t understand but the way it’s not in the mainstream media is kind of scaring me. I saw how you are sharing and forwarding this article. Do you feel like this is something we have never seen before?
It could be very bad but one piece of information tempered this for me. They have only been monitoring this for the past 30 years, that is nothing in in the earth’s timeline. It is very possible reversals like this have happened regularly before. That is not to say the information is to be ignored because it is equally possible that this has never happened before.
But then, I have zero faith in humanity making the effort to deal with climate change, so what does it matter?
its not a presidents fault for the oceans why are you people so political on everything that happens in this world. get over it already you sound stupid.
Ah, I see you knew immediately that “nutcases” referred to the current president! Funny how you thought of him when you heard that word because it was plural and could have meant anyone in our own city hall. But, you are correct.
Nutcase is anyone reversing efforts.
Not to be mean, but it actually is his fault. He (Mr 1822) is getting rid of energy incentives to get rid of excess CO2. Then he is getting rid of climate issue goals, so coal and whatever he invested in grows cash. Your issue is your “Jesus” is perfect. So perfect you do not want to see thru the lies and deceptions that will cost all life its existence soon. We know this is not “fake news” or faked science. Texas, New Mexico and many other catastrophic WX events are proof. You need to face provable truth. Truth that can be replicated over and over. Not truth from a fairy tale book or the National Enquirer, FeauxNews or NewsMin. Do your research and study “Critical Thinking and Valudity.” You will see your view on politics in this story is way off base. It’s the whole reason… not just from the US borders.
Your words, not his. Keep putting words in his mouth. Eventually you will believe the opposite. You ate making your own negativity.
the coastlines are crumbling, the mountains are tumbling,
the oceans are setting to roar
the skies are on fire, the rivers are mires
Of mud through landscapes destroyed
The following story of history and glory
is quite unpredictable
be prepared: girl scout motto
For all the climate mumbo jumbo that proliferates from this Cali state jacking up your cost of living, why is is fine to pollute the air and water with July 4 fireworks across the country? Splain, Lucy.
Mumbo Jumbo? Climate change is just mumbo jumbo? I am just trying to clarify your statement.
You obviously don’t understand my sentence.
Reason: Status quo from 1822. Selfishness. That simple. It’s NOT OK to have lung problems for days after fireworks. Not OK to stress wildlife and people.
I was grateful to find this article. I just started hearing about the current reversal but really have to dig to find any info on it. I used to live in OB, reminded me of my Old Venice Beach vibe.
I have been teaching climate change at a 6th grade level for 20 years now. If this data and these consequences play out…we are in for a world of hurt.
I wish that we could just put away all the bickering back and forth with each other, and quit trying to politicize any and every issue that comes to the table. Obviously there are major changes coming and we’d all be better off if we focused on our strengths as opposed to our small minded weaknesses.
There is no “quick fix” for this situation, and I can only hope those in leadership realize this, before their knee- jerk reaction leads us into a even worse situation . This was a long time coming, and may be a long time trying to regain stability.
Just keep your friends close, your family closer, and your chosen higher power within reach.
Man. Been following this subject since I was a kid. The potential shut-down was what made the idea both, fascinating and terrifying. It seems unreal now that it is happening.
As a person, I am fearful. As a friend, I am supportive. As a human, I am ashamed.
I would refer eveyone with better resources to search & review the James Burke episodes of Connections dating from the late 1970s. I recall one that dealt with reversals of ocean currents due to climate change and the possibility of the St. Lawrence seaway reversing flow & the Great Lakes becoming saline.
Our planet has crossed so many tipping points in the last couple of decades…this is just another not-unexpected progression to an overheated planet.
It sure seems to not be anything like the not-so-threatening W.Bush’s P.R flack Frank Luntz’s term “climate change” that he invented when polls showed that the words Global Warming were making the voters ‘uncomfortable.’ We burned through that real fast and straight into worldwide Climate Destabilization or, as some in the science community are calling it, Climate Chaos.
I’ve been watching this since December:
https://arctic-news.blogspot.com/2024/12/did-a-terminal-temperature-acceleration-event-start-in-december-2024.html
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2024 was the hottest worldwide temp on record. We now have a CO2 reading of 430ppm in the atmosphere. We are NOT in the moderate Holocene Era climate any longer.
Have you read Professor Wadham’s ‘Farewell to Ice?’ Maybe ‘The Big Heat’ by Jeffery St. Clair & Joshua Frank? Or anything by Dr. Glickson?
Warning: This website isn’t fooling around. Look at the list contributors. It is full of the science by dozens of climate and related-disciplines scientists. It used to be the Arctic Emergency Methane Group before they focused into being more of a comprehensive worldwide climate watch.
We as a species are not going to get away with this much longer it seems. The one mistake the climate scientists admit that really bothers me? They now think 20 years ago is that they were FAR too conservative in the timeline they thought the break down of the Holocene Era due to crossing tipping points that would accelerate the entire Greenhouse process. Well, it sure is breaking all of those conservative expectations…
And my neighbor was just called out to a fire out west. We also have a couple of smaller ones in the county, but he’s heading to a 9,000 acre one that blew up yesterday morning. Smoke smell this morning coming from somewhere. Not good.
How climate change is supercharging wildfires
The latest science on the link between climate change and natural disasters — and how they may be playing out where you live.
https://grist.org/extreme-weather/how-climate-change-is-supercharging-wildfires/
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This summer is going to become even more scary than last year I think. With Canada being on fire for the last few months already, every year is going to be worse. There is a 20 to 30 year ‘lag’ time between emissions and effects. Think about that for a minute. Big sigh.
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sealintheSelkirks
Let’s be clear, typos easily indicate an issue. You look for typos with scammers. They can easily be red flags. Clarification was needed. Correction is also needed.
Trying to claim i am a denier shows you have not been paying attention. I am a media person, as I have pointed out. “Journalism” which I behold is fact only. No opinion, spin, editorial is and is transparent and be replicated by sources. It’s the literary and factual version of the scientific method.
Just because someone has a PC, laptop, smartphone, camera, etc., does not make them a “journalist.”
Please take the time to read my comments. I have worked for a very big journalistic company. Yes, actual journalists. Facts, not opinions.
Thank you for your input. But the evidence shows how you have judged me wrongly.
“I have worked for a very big journalistic company.”
That is an odd way to describe who you worked for. An actual news organization name would have been superior to “a very big journalistic company.” You said it, “Facts.” But, where are the facts?
Validity issues:
“Post on social media”… what social media? Cannot be confirmed.
“Scientists confirmed”… Names missing. Cannot be confirmed.
Also… what the heck is “CO?”? Mistype of “CO2”? Am I the only one seeing that???
We tried to catch all the typos. Our platform doesn’t recognize small numbers.
So why is “CO2” in your own words, but not theirs? In theirs it’s “CO?”. It’s stuff like this scammers do. Caught my eye immediately. I take all things into consideration for validity of an article. But, I’m a free thinker who cares about the big picture made of allot of facts. “CO?” is just one fact I noticed. Journalism or Soviet propaganda? Catch my meaning? Do better or let us think you are scam/propaganda. I am leaning towards the last one. Propaganda.
Often when something is copied from a .pdf document and pasted into a Word document, a few errors will occur, sometimes a lot. This looks to me like a “2” that came out as a “?” Nothing conspiratorial about that.
Nothing normal about copying text that changes either. This is the 1st time I have heard of characters changing when copied and pasted. Conspiracies, yes. This excuse does not wash Geoff. Transparency. If you cannot be honest, how can we believe your reporting?
Who cares if you don’t believe this post. You appear to be a climate crisis denier. Stop coming on to the Rag and filling our box up with your junk.
It has nothing to do about climate, as to why I am commenting. Hint: “WX” in another comment. If you were in actual news, you would know this abbreviation. Thanks for your feedback, however wrong it is.
“Weather in another comment?” What does that mean?
I have copied a reams of text FROM .pdfs TO MS Word, apparently, you have not. It is a very common error, the “2” looks like a “?” to the software. Happens all the time. This was not an excuse, I don’t need one.
Actually. I have. I have also used Open Source programs too. Never had an issue. Spellcheck can be your friend. So can an extra pair of eyes. Either way, its a red flag. The job can be done better. Must I need to point this out? Especially if its a public trust issue?
Typos happen all the time. Most are caught, some get by. Most normal, understanding people realize it and move on figuring out what was meant. Try it yourself before making such a confident statement, Spellcheck does not catch CO?
Extra eyes? Well it looks like you are volunteering to proofread all The Rag’s stories. Terrific! You can show us how the job can be done better, oh, and that is without pay mind you.
I also find it odd that “CO?” is being discussed, not the missing info that does not prove validity. As a journalist, isn’t this your job to prove??? What is the reason this missing info is not being discussed and proven? Or the info being updated. See my comment above about validity issues. Clearly not doing the job.
Then if you’re so disgusted with our citizen journalism, stop coming on and leaving nasty comments. (When was the last time you contributed to keeping our platform afloat, btw?)
You seem to be very fixated on the CO2 misprint. You could, instead of wasting space with your problematic ‘validity issues’ being constantly reinforced, refer back to my 10July comment with the web address that directs you to a VERY valid website just chock full of respected internationally-known scientists that will overwhelm you with facts and studies going back years that I’m sure will keep your brain processing facts for days if not weeks.
Then maybe you could come back to this space and regale us with what you learned.
Or not.
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In the meantime, here’s one just published from Pro Publica to inform others here about the climate chaos and how the Texas floods relate:
(the Trump Regime)..stopped reporting the cost of disasters… is “in alignment with evolving priorities…” which says a whole lot about the Fascist mindset, doesn’t it?
The Texas Flash Flood Is a Preview of the Chaos to Come
https://www.propublica.org/article/texas-flash-flood-camp-mystic-climate-change-trump-noaa-fema?utm
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And I agree. This was just a sneak peek, a low-level preview of far worse to come and, to be honest, I think it’s actually a more conservative view than is warranted based on the evolving science of the last 40 years of just how extreme it is very likely to get. And how fast it will happen.
We are now experiencing weather disasters and climate shifts not ‘expected’ until the year 2100 by the science of 25-30 years ago (and yes I was reading it then and my memory is still sharp).
And right at this minute we are starting to see the results of just the late 1990s/early 2000s Greenhouse Gas emissions affect the planet.
Dude, the information is out there. Has been for decades. YOU just need to take the time to dig it out, read it, and process what you read into a coherent whole. If at all possible.
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My 82 yr old retired scientist next door neighbor (biologist then a high school science teacher) started warning his most intelligent students to not have children near the end of his 30 year teaching career because of what he saw coming in the science…and covered why during regular lesson times to the rest of the class, too.
The kids loved him, not so much their logging & mining right wing Republican-voting parents though. I taught a lot of his students and their kids to snowboard the last two decades and reinforced his climate views when they asked me about what was going on with the winters, and fires, and so many other inter-related worries they had as the winters became warmer and more rain instead of snow fell and and and…
Big sigh.
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sealintheSelkirks
@Andrew there is one party that does not believe in climate change and do just about everything they can to increase pollution of our air and water. Care to take a guess on which party that is?
Would not a interruption in the ocean current flow effect earth rotation?
Wow ! This is the first I have heard of this. This is front page news so to speak. I watched a story on the Atlantic Conveyor current years ago about what it is and does. I got me very concerned about the future. Now this story on a Southern Hemisphere current actually reversing its flow needs to be brought to the attention of everyone. We ( the world ) need to start getting serious about our planet. We know less about our oceans than the universe. We live here for God’s sake ! Quit the finger pointing and start figuring out solutions. It will take a lot of give and take,money and common sense. We can’t screw around with this.
Sorry to be so…reality-based, but Tom T.: the time for the humans on this world to ‘start getting serious’ was over half a century ago when the oil company scientists delivered their findings about the Greenhouse Effect and emissions to their bosses in the 1960s…who then promptly censored and buried those scientific findings in favor of their personal wealth and of course the generation of ever-more corporate profits.
We now know, thanks to the unSupreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, that corporations are ‘people’ and therefore they have a right to ‘live,’ too! The epitome of insanity in legalistic terms, and now it’s all about Drill baby Drill but then Obama put in more pipelines across the country than any other president, and Biden pumped more oil than any other president. Now Trumpie wants to out-do them in everything. He’s got some catching up to do to pass their records but he’s sure trying including with deportations. Obama is still number 1 in that…
A Catastrophic New Normal Has Arrived
https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/07/18/a-catastrophic-new-normal-has-arrived/
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How climate change is supercharging wildfires
The latest science on the link between climate change and natural disasters — and how they may be playing out where you live.
https://grist.org/extreme-weather/how-climate-change-is-supercharging-wildfires/
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I’ve got burns going in different directions but at the moment only the one to the north, the Hope Fire between me and the Canadian Border, has been blowing up wildly due to incredibly rugged up & down mountainous terrain and extremely dry forest conditions. A couple of others, one to the south and another to the s/sw in the neighboring county, were stomped on by fire crews. There’s over a thousand crew on the Hope Fire up north…
We are not in the Heat Dome that is smothering a large portion of the country to the East Coast, I’m literally about 100 miles from the western edge of the Dome, but it’s still in the mid-high 90s every day. Conditions are primed for wildfires, and the one down in Oregon is about to become the first ‘Megafire’ of the season.
The insurance companies all bailed a few years ago, at least the major ones like Mutual of Enumclaw, State Farm, Farmer’s, after the Paradise Fire in 2018. I’m guessing a majority of us up here don’t have any fire insurance or at least very poor and very expensive partial coverage. It’s literally up to luck to not be houseless…one can only do so much without chopping the entire forest down around us but then the corporate loggers are doing a bang-up job with that! And leaving rubble-strewn fire traps behind…
sealintheSelkirks
The start of an opinion piece I can’t fully access written by Enrique Dans:
The United States is now in a very dark place
The United States is experiencing a phenomenon as fascinating as it is unsettling: one of the most advanced economies on the planet, home to some of the world’s finest universities and research centers, has fallen prey to a collective delusion dragging it decades backward in public health, environmental policy, science, energy and technology.
The trigger for this piece is an impressive Washington Post article, Paywall at (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/07/06/texas-flood-camp-mystic-timeline/) analyzing the devastating floods in Texas over the Fourth of July, which killed at least a hundred people *(closer to two hundred) — many of them children — stunning local authorities with their speed and ferocity.
The core of the article isn’t just the climate tragedy itself, but the context in which it unfolds: a country where the president, Donald Trump, aims to eliminate the entire federal budget for climate and meteorological research. Zero dollars. None. As well as being an idiot, he thinks that ignoring the problem will make it vanish…
This dismantling of scientific knowledge isn’t random or anecdotal. It’s accompanied by shuttering weather stations, eliminating key positions in the National Weather Service even in vulnerable areas like Kerr County (Texas) itself, and the systematic gutting of agencies like NOAA, the backbone of U.S. climate and oceanic forecasting. A direct attack on science, on information, and ultimately, on public safety. And by the way…
*Then I hit the Paywall. But the writer sure does made some key points with the facts he listed, didn’t he?
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But this isn’t just limited to the current regime that has taken over Washington DC. The ‘blame game’ can’t be laid at the feet of the incredibly ignorant idiot currently holding the country hostage to his insatiable greed and abhorrent policy choices. This has been an on-going kick the can down the road of every administration since JFK.
It has always been like an unspoken policy to pay little to no attention to what the science is telling us because there are always other, more pressing human-caused crisis that almost seems to be designed to take our attention away from a slow long-term one that has been building inexorably towards this existential civilization-ending one. All for a select, very small group of very wealthy people to keep their power over the rest of us, for that never-ending supply of ‘money’ that they created to continue to fill their pockets as they manipulate.
It’s the entire Northern Hemisphere. Europe is suffering under this incredibly hot summer, and glaciers are collapsing while mountainsides crumble and fall off covering towns with rubble. Turkey, Greece, Spain, everywhere is burning.
Canada’s wildfires lit off months ago when it should have been Spring, and that smoke has been blanketing parts of the US ever since. But then the US is under a radical ‘Heat Dome’ at the moment like what I was under in 2021 here in the N/W. There are over 100 wildfires now burning across the US…
Japan is baking under their record heat levels, China is melting with the hottest temps they’ve ever recorded. Western Asia-the oil states-are heading towards what will likely soon be outdoor temperatures that are just not survivable by humans since they hit 125’F on May 19th this year, the earliest ever recorded. I have no idea where the their thermometer is at now near the end of July. Pakistan and India? Don’t ask about how the poor people in the most populous country in the world are doing.
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Inside the US Heat Crisis | David Attenborough | BBC Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbMIubov950
This is almost ridiculously optimistic because we are OVER 1.5’C now in 2025, over 430ppm CO2, when you use the Dawn of the Industrial Age of 1750.
And the northern hemisphere’s Methane Bomb that’s been locked in the Permafrost (that has suddenly destabilized) has it’s fuse lit due to the heat. It’s bubbling like mad to the north of me… Methane is WAY worse in the short term but then as Methane breaks down it breaks down into…CO2. How’s that for being a bitch of a reality?
From 2015 Paris Agreement had NO EFFECT because the US ONLY talks the talk and does NOT act to any appreciable extent. The Paris Accord was a failure.
And now we’ve got Trump who is breaking what little that has been accomplished. Does anyone think different?
sealintheSelkirks