WOW! Sabine, I'm a recently retired US Government meteorologist (BS in Physics and MS in Meteorology). In this short video, you've brilliantly summarized my 2 years in graduate school! Thank you so much! I wish I could have viewed this video, when I was in graduate school nearly 40 years ago; in less than 15 minutes, you better explained the atmospheric/ocean interaction than all of my professors in graduate school! Incidentally, I so love your humor - "...the southern hemisphere rotates in the same direction as the northern hemisphere" LOL - so refreshing!!!
yet she missed a few sets of data ... geologic records show this has happened 4 times before and marks the end of the last 4 ice ages in earths history .. making this a GEOLOGICAL NORM ... second she ignored the ice core records ... that show this has happened before this ice age started ... and history of the maya and the first nations people all have histories that have the melting of all the ice caps in our history ... making everything spewed by the media and these lying scientists FALSE ... mans contribution to global warming amounts to the same as a a person alone in a closed stadium like the astro dome and fartiing once ... THOSE ARE FACTS ... and not just cherry picked from one science discipline but derived from ALL of them ... . to prove me wrong you MUST prove the geologic record the ice core record and historical records wrong .. and since even the mayans knew about pluto before modern man found it ... that is an IMPOSSIBILITY.
Check it out, Larry: "Last week research published in the journal Nature Communications suggested that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) could collapse around mid-century. Amoc is a vast movement of water around the Atlantic, driven by the downward flow of cold, salty water (which is denser than warmer, less salty water) in the far north of the ocean. It plays a major role in transferring heat from the tropics to the north, especially to northern Europe. Without it, the average temperature in this region would be between 3C and 8C cooler. The difference between the average temperature today and that of the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago (the point during the last ice age when the ice sheets were at their largest) is approximately 6C. Amoc has tipped between the “on” state and the “off” state many times in prehistory. As seawater in the northern Atlantic region warms and is diluted by meltwater running off ice and snow on land, the system reaches a critical threshold, beyond which the circulation shuts down. Scientists have been warning that, thanks to global heating, the system is weaker than it has been for 1,000 years, but a tipping was deemed unlikely this century. The new assessment suggests this might be optimistic." George Monbiot, The Guardian 2/8/23
Education has improved over the last 40 years, just as sciences and technology have improved. Teaching is a technique which can be developed and refinded, after all. If you want, check out the channel "Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell". In my view the most efficient form of explaining compley matters in the shortest way possible. I studied Biology and I am just amazed how perfectly they are describing Biology themes in short, funny videos.
London's climate is controlled by Londoners. Older Londoners (like me) are really cool and don't like the winter and only come out of their homes in summer and therefore reduce the ambient temperature. Young Londoners are really hot (I used to be one) and become really active in winter negating the continental climate effect. The Gulf stream is where our petrol comes from.
So all I need to do is snatch a bunch of you geezers, smuggle you to Florida and I can finally have some cool weather? Human trafficking it is. Might you share your address with me kind sir? I'll be sending a black cab to pick you up. Would you like a blind fold or a full body burlap sack?
"Last week research published in the journal Nature Communications suggested that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) could collapse around mid-century. Amoc is a vast movement of water around the Atlantic, driven by the downward flow of cold, salty water (which is denser than warmer, less salty water) in the far north of the ocean. It plays a major role in transferring heat from the tropics to the north, especially to northern Europe. Without it, the average temperature in this region would be between 3C and 8C cooler. The difference between the average temperature today and that of the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago (the point during the last ice age when the ice sheets were at their largest) is approximately 6C. Amoc has tipped between the “on” state and the “off” state many times in prehistory. As seawater in the northern Atlantic region warms and is diluted by meltwater running off ice and snow on land, the system reaches a critical threshold, beyond which the circulation shuts down. Scientists have been warning that, thanks to global heating, the system is weaker than it has been for 1,000 years, but a tipping was deemed unlikely this century. The new assessment suggests this might be optimistic." George Monbiot, The Guardian 2/8/23
Except she did bait you. The actual answer is yes. It’s just the wrong question. No one says it would stop the Gulf Stream and if they do they mean that it would no longer be able to warm Europe. This video is pretty much the definition of hitting the lead. Not a single reference to the AMOX u tik the very end. Given retention rates most people would have missed the bit where she says but actually yes.
I needed this video back in elementary school when they told us that wind patterns effected the trade between Europe and its colonies in the New World, but nobody explained why there were wind patterns. I was one of those kids who got frustrated about missing information. Thanks for clearing it up many years later.
Agree, I grew up in Australia and the existence of the trade winds played a major part in the discovery and eventual colonization of my country. Everyone just seemed to accept they exist and never bother to explain where they came from
@@glenchapman3899 To be fair what you say is history and the wind patterns should be explained in geography class, though yes, this requires competent people writing school program to ensure both topics will be discussed about same time, and sadly most school programs are written by far right knuckle draggers screeching about CRT...
Seems like you focus 99.5% on countering oversimplification and uncertainty, and devote only a fraction of a sentence and an unlabeled image to the magnitude of the effect on Europe if the AMOC were to stop which is the thing that's actually driving this concern among climate scientists.
it is pseudoscience, video is made to make people calm and does not really address any real climate issue we hav. One year later and ops Eas-West winds were not there in Europe, instead we had Sahara air north as Scandinavia so where it is Gulf stream...?
Much of the confusion around Gulf Stream vs AMOC may be due the term "Gulf Stream" being used in a more narrow sense now, compared to earlier when the ocean water movement patterns and causes were less well understood. Hence "Gulf Stream" came to mean the whole deal about warmer water streaming towards Europe, and when some of that mechanism came to be understood as the separate phenomena AMOC, that did not suddenly change the colloquial meaning of "Gulf Stream". Scientists narrowing down the meaning of terms does not make the rest of the world stop using what they grew up with.
On a tangent from that, I wonder how much effect the availability of all sorts of information and misinformation today will have on the evolution of actual science. Science is limited by the formal process in rapidity of evolution; rumors purporting to be science only take half an hour to concoct and spread. I know our host has made a conciliatory video about the teleology of Flat Earthers, but those who eschew the entire science aspect are probably beyond hope. "Climate Science" is perhaps one of the first fields to be saturated with things that are not science at all, but I was introduced to the "pseudoscience" of Continental Drift and what is now known as tectonic theory by a late 1950s science textbook in 8th grade. I agree with Galileo as quoted in Bertolt Brecht's "Life of Galileo": "Someone asked the astronomer, 'Why should we go out of our way to look for things that that an only strike a discord in the ineffable harmony? Mr. Galileo was about to demonstrate the impossible. His new stars [visible with his telescope] would have broken the outer crystal sphere, which we know of on the authority of Aristotle.' Galileo replied, 'Truth is the child of Time, not of Authority. Our ignorance is infinite, let's whittle away just one [bit]. Why should we still want to be so clever when at long last we have a chance of being a little less stupid?' "
@@flagmichael I suppose that a main risk may be real science losing out in popularity and hence funding, when fast streams like TikTok grow as sources of *what to think".
Sabine's humor is one of the great attractions of the channel. ... "the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere, yes, they rotate in the same direction. She is the best.
Nah it's clockwise here in Australia and anti clockwise in the USA!!! Lol and that of course is the brilliance of Sabine's explanation. Because of course relativity comes into play because if I am at the Equator and the air mass is being dragged East slower than the earth is spinning then for me it feel like a West wind even though the air mass is travelling East! Interestingly winds in Equatorial zones can travel faster but because air mass is much less the force is much less than colder air in southern or northern hemispheres. Ask any old sailor. And of course the Earth isn't going to stop spinning or the sun shining! Possibly Sabine's best video.
Yeah, Sabine is the exception that proves the rule that Germans have no sense of humour. Part of her attraction is that she so brilliantly proves this with her sly one liners. Love this channel and her explanation of the Coriolis Effect was probably the most succinct that I've seen in over 50 years of looking deeply into meteorology and physics. She did it with a globe and her fingers. Brilliant.
She is just pulling some sort of your anatomy. I have been to Costa Rica and Toronto. I looked over my right shoulder and the animals were very different. Can you explain? Was that the Twilight Zone?
The title of this video is clickbait. It suggests a scientific answer to an important question about the future climate of Europe. The answer "what you call Gulf Stream is technically the AMOC. Your question, well I don't have an answer to that ..."
The thing with something like AMOC is that because the data isn't enough and the models lacking, there is uncertainty both ways. It might not collapse at all and then again it might cllapse sooner with unforseen ramifications. Some other potential tipping points also may never happen but there may be tipping points that we are unaware of. Lots of unknowns riding on what we do know.
Indeed. There might not be any tipping point at all. As ice melts and AMOC slows, that would 'self-regulate' by not bringing as much warm water northward to cause further melting. And of course if ice caps started growing, the salt left behind from the freezing would make salinity rise in northern waters, boosting AMOC circulation. But that's just a guess from my limited understanding, obviously the system is much more complex than what a 'Saturday morning arm-chair analysis' can provide. 😉😉
@@mikefochtman7164 When the AMOC slows down, the atmosphere over the North Atlantic and Europe radiates less heat into space, which increases the temperature elsewhere including Antarctica, where the amount of melting is still conditional on our behavior (the Greenland Ice Sheet is already certain to be lost in 500 years).
So what do you propose? Sit on our hands and do nothing until will have a 100% accurate model? Or maybe, take the warnings of scientists and act before it's too late (if it goes that way). And if it wasn't going to go that way, we've done a good thing anyway... Yeah, the world's in a shit mess because of people like you! (People who refuse to do anything, because ' there's uncertainty'. I genuinely hate your type.)
My mother lives in Vancouver, BC and when she corresponded with her relatives in Long Island, New York, they couldn't get their heads around the idea that Vancouver winters were generally milder than New York ones. In their minds, Vancouver being in Canada and further north must be colder.
New york is just slightly colder in winter than vancouver, both have light winter snowfalls in normal conditions, but Vancouver is colder than NY in summer, New York's summers are fuckin hell.
Yes and the average winter minima can easily be compared with USDA plant hardiness zone map, also used outside of US. You guys in Vancouver have palms outside, no palms in NY 😌
wait till they find out that vladivostok is 13 degrees colder in winter than reykjavik despite being 1500 miles closer to the equator (both coastal cities)
Wonderfully clear presentation for the non-physicist (in my case, biologist). Thank you for this latest example of your remarkable commitment to science education.
Dr Jordan B Peterson and Dr. Richard Lindzen dive into the facts of climate change, the models used to predict it, the dismal state of academia, and the politicized world of “professional” science. Richard Lindzen is a dynamical meteorologist. He has contributed to the development of theories for the Hadley Circulation, hydrodynamic instability theory, internal gravity waves, atmospheric tides, and the quasi-biennial oscillation of the stratosphere. His current research is focused on climate sensitivity, the role of cirrus clouds in climate, and the determination of the tropics-to-pole temperature difference. He has attained multiple degrees from Harvard University, and won multiple awards in his field of study such as the Jule Charney award for “highly significant research in the atmospheric sciences”. Between 1983 and 2013, he was the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at MIT where he earned emeritus status in July of 2013. ua-cam.com/video/7LVSrTZDopM/v-deo.html
@@alanhat5252 chatgpt says; explain how positive vorticity generates weather and sustains regional climates Positive vorticity is an important factor in generating and sustaining weather and regional climates. This is because it causes air to move in a cyclonic or counterclockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. This movement of air causes air masses to collide and mix, resulting in the formation of low and high pressure systems which create different weather conditions. The movement of air also helps to transport heat and moisture, allowing for clouds and precipitation to form. This circulation of air helps to regulate the temperature and humidity in a region, ultimately sustaining the regional climate. more Positive vorticity helps to transport energy from the tropics to the poles. This energy helps to drive the global climate system, which keeps regional climates in balance. Without the energy transported by positive vorticity, regional climates would be much less stable.
Yeah but still she’s wrong about how the Gulf Stream is powered by only the rotation of the earth. The temperature difference between equator and poles makes up the wind speed and because of climate change the poles heat up faster than the equator and so all winds, which power the ocean currents on the surface, like the Gulf Stream. Complete clickbait as the Gulf Stream is used for the amoc too
Thank you for explaining this. I live on the Atlantic Coast of Florida, where the Gulf Stream is only 30 kms offshore. (South of us, it's only 15 kms offshore.) Fishing boats take people out there to fish for sailfish and marlin. You can see the Gulf Stream very clearly when you reach it, since it's a different color from the water it flows through.
I wish I had known that when I lived there, would've been something I'd try to see in person. I'm also thinking that having the Gulfstream so close to shore might also contribute to the stronger currents and waves I experienced swimming at East Coast beaches. I could bob around in the same spot all day at a Gulf beach, but I always had to fight rip currents at Vero and other Atlantic side beaches. But, I should double check that my assumptions are on track. 🍀✌️😎
@@erinmac4750 The Gulf Stream comes closest to shore at Palm Beach. Northward of that, it gets farther and farther away, so it depends on where you lived. Also, although the Gulf Stream does have an effect on weather conditions that come from the east, it's not responsible for the Atlantic's rougher conditions. I think that's more because of the Atlantic's size. I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, so I know what you mean about how much gentler the Gulf of Mexico is.
The moisture that South Detroit got yesterday came from the Gulf of Mexico. The cold air that created the snow yesterday came from the North Pacific. The N Atlantic and N Pacific operates much the same as a old Ford model A radiator gravity cooling system. So far January came December and December so far is in January. BUT January is not over and 18 CM is coming soon. I am waiting for the next snowicane like '78 & 70CM
@@jerryyoung-m7g I was in P'cola in 83 and 84. Quite nice. Last summer not so nice at the end of summer. One thing you can be sure the weather changes. Now I am in South DE-troit. Kinda warm today 1C
Always keep in mind that reporters aren't trained in anything other than reporting, they know absolutely nothing about science (Graham Hancock comes to mind as he's in the news recently). They constantly get science news wrong or will report on some new study as if it is settled science, forgetting their 6th grade science lesson that one experiment is only the beginning of the scientific method, it requires the experiment to be run many, many, many.... times and get the same result every time to be science. Most become reporters because they weren't good at anything else and work in print because they aren't pretty enough to be on TV.
@grindupBaker An ice age is more of a global phenomenon than your local air temp. The older teaching was that an ice age would come on gradually over thousands or tens of thousands of years, but other studies have suggested that temperature oscillations have shifted into noticeably colder regimes within a decade. So, you're right that "plunging" is used by alarmists to sound more extreme than the norm, however the irony is that plunging may simply be the norm.
IMO, nothing DR H. says here either allays AGW fear/concern or feeds it.., nor is meant to pointedly do so, I think.... She simply says that the possible changes to Atlantic Ocean currents are too complex, as yet, for present human comprehension or our reliable prediction-making, given our present level of science [and thus our ability to establish even-likely-probabilities about how AGW might cause unacceptably-negative consequences for some or many humans...... Therefore, intelligent CAUTION needs to remain humanity's guiding principle in all areas of Today's human mass technological developments...especially in areas of human endeavor that can or might direley affect the natural earth systems that allow continuance of the biosphere that makes civilized human life on earth sustainable....
No matter what Tim Palmer says, I agree with Dr. Hossenfelder that a global, irreversable experiment with so many unknowns might not be the greatest idea ever.
Paris and Montréal are nearly the same latitude. Montréal has long, harsh winters, while Paris has mild winters where snow is rare. No one lives more than 100 km north of Montréal because it's just too cold. The entire UK is north of Paris, as are countries like Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and a large part of Germany. Trust me, you don't want Northern Canada's climate in Northern Europe.
@@raminagrobis6112 There are ~150 million people who live north of Paris in Europe. There's barely 100k people who live in Northern Canada. Quebec alone is about the same size as Western Europe, and only a tiny fraction is habitable..
@@AxelQC You don't need to tell that to a Quebecers. I was merely pointing out that using "No one lives at more than 100 km from Montreal" is impolite towards the many First Nation inhabitants of our vast northern territory.
Yes but you speak about the current situation. Tomorrow's Northern Canada will have a much milder climate because of global warming. And then England is not in such a big danger either, after all.
FYI: JPL just launched the Wide Swath Ocean Altimeter, which will map these turbulent gyres at a much smaller scale than every before. Basically, the gyres have a small parabolic shape (inches high, miles wide) that are measurable with a radar altimeter.
Why should I believe anyone who hides behind a fake name? Are you really a Doctor? What are your bona fides? These are vital in any scientific ADULT conversation.
Great, but the deep ocean and it's salinity at a global scale is not at all well monitored and that's the problem with climate models because they don't consider the volumes/speed and heat exchange taking place down there and it's cyclic long-term impact on the surface temperature.
@@MichaelKingsfordGray we had a tobacco commercial and we showed a bunch of doctors with an alphabet behind their names testifying before Congress that tobacco was neither habit-forming not harmful. What you were talking about is a logic flaw called reference to authority.
I feel that the title of this videobis missleading, because the subtleties that Sabine mentions might be relevant at the oceanographer level of knwoeledge, the overall effect, as Sabine herself says in the video, is that less warm water will reach Europe if salinity levels drop. The title ends up confuses people and in certain countries can and will be surely used to delay urgent climate action, which might not be Sabine's intention but might likely be the result.
Sabine, thanks for waving that book slowly enough I could catch the title, now it's on my wish list (along with a couple hundred others in topics ranging from math to physics to medicine}. 😊
I'm not a big viewer of youtube videos because i'm mostly sorry for the time wasted. But Sabine's posts are fantastic. Complex topics treated in a clear structure and this wonderful humor, a pleasure! Many, many thanks, please keep it up!
Oh no, did you forget to quantify the cost-efficiency of writing this comment? Be careful! I had fun once last month by mistake, it was horrifying when I realized! I lost a whole 2 minutes and 43 seconds of productivity (which amounted to $3.71 in opportunity cost, I calculated)
Brilliant small-packed documentary. I've diaried to watch it a few times more to understand. I am in Australia and was brought up in the '60s with Dorothea Mackellar's poem which a phrase is: "I love a sunburnt country. A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains." So true for me today.
Archimedes was doing maths in the rather hot climate of Sicily, Pithagoras in nearby Croton. It's not climate which determines maths, sry. Also it may get too cold for anyone to live there anyhow, that's what happened in the Younger Dryas, which is the precedent this fear builds upon.
@@LuisAldamiz This was the comment no one needed, bu we thank you for your consideration any way! This is why I recommend putting "sarcasm alerts' or 'humor alerts' for our friends who learn English as a second language and may miss it the first read through! Thank you again, Mr. Aldamiz!
I've watched a lot of science videos on UA-cam. Sabine is the best. I've learned new things from her even on the subjects I thought I have all the relevant info.
As always I am now smarter than I was before Sabine provided facts for my brain to work on and understand. Thank you Sabine, for clearing up so many questions I had about this topic!!
very important topic… i was unaware of the controversy. it is excellent that you are explaining this to the general public. words have specific meaning that may change over time as we gather more information. distinct words have distinct consequences. So its important to clarify those distinctions after decades of research.
Wow I am from Boston and I always wondered about that. I always assumed the more north you went the colder it was. This was until I went to college and I was shocked to find meet people from Vancouver and they told me it didn’t really snow there BUT THE WINTER OLYMPICS WERE THERE I said And they said the snowy stuff was in Whistler in the mountains Then I met people from the UK and Ireland I talked to them about Christmas And snow And I couldn’t believe that a place on the globe so north had no pond hockey culture! And it was around this time I was studying environmental science and learned about this and it blew my mind Here is another thing that blows my mind The beaches in Boston get warmer than Santa Monica in the summer and get really cold. I think Something like that I went to the beach in Santa Monica on a hot December day All my family from Southern California said the water is cold And I said you just think that because you are from California I’m from Massachusetts and this water is so warm to me And it felt warm! But in actuality it is quite cold Again because of currents The world is wild The places you’d have to go in Canada to get the large amount of daylight in the summer as Ireland are so far north that it’s hard to even drive there
Princess Grace couldn't tell the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon from France or California, and liked California wine better, so maybe they shouldn't release the irradiated Fukushima water into the Kuroshio Stream?
There is a 6 years old presentation from climatologist Stefan Rahmstorf called "is the gulf stream system slowing" on UA-cam. He focusses on the AMOC, which _is_ slowing down. I recommend to to everyone to watch this video before you draw false conclusions.
And there is a brand new lecture by Rahmstorf on the occasion of receiving the Wegener medal in April 2024. It's an excellent lecture. Same topic (AMOC) with more detailed explanation and information from a bunch of his and others' more recent studies and reviews.
Well, now in 2024 it has been revealed that the whole measurement issue has severe difficulties-the data has now begun to indicate an increase in AMOC velocity, suggesting it is a natural variation we are seeing. This is the problem with the Potsdam guys-they are so totally on the tank they have been known to jump way ahead of the data when in a hurry.
@@hinckleybuzzard12 Do you have a source for that? Even if that is true though, just the chance of the AMOC collapsing is so extremely grim, we should still do our utmost to prevent that from happening.
Dear Sabine, Thank you so much for your talks. I discovered them only a day ago and they are just right for me. I seem to recall from some time ago that a research group set up a simulation of the Thermohaline Circulation. I think they found that if it stops it will stop suddenly. I also seem to recall from the NOAA that the Gulf Stream, the tail, you mentioned, has been reaching much further South than before, the coast of Spain, whereas some years ago it was reaching much further North, to Scotland. Again thanks
@@cavulocappoccio7690 If someone tells you something is an absolute fact when they can't know it's a fact, then their judgement or objectivity is flawed and their opinion is not worth taking time over.
Sabbine, could you make a video on the Earth's magnetic fields? And what happens when they flip over 100s or 1000s of years? And what happens during an excursion? There's a lot of misinformation, pseudoscience and fear mongering around this topic.
A salt water (haline) oscillator was my high school science fair project. I didn't win. It was slow and I wasn't wearing the Navier Stokes t-shirt. I needed that. Also I didn't know anything about Navier Stokes. I fixed that later. Thank you for this video! I would give it more thumbs up but they only allow one. (I do have two thumbs ...)
Just because Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist, it doesn’t mean she is right about everything. Even Einstein was wrong about some things, and she isn’t Einstein. Never simply accept that what anyone says is right because A: it agrees with what you believe, B: It sounds much nicer than what might actually happen and C: without reading what experts in the actual field under discussion say. Always keep an open mind- the climate is immensely complex and I am very suspicious of anyone who says they actually understand it fully.
@@ianbruce6515 Pity the headline didn’t make that clear. What grabbed my attention more was the number of people who appeared to simply have accepted that she is right and all the climate scientists are wrong. It’s like a tobacco industry ad telling everyone how good cigarettes are and then right at the end of the ad, in a very low voice saying “however cigarettes cause cancer and can kill”. If the science is complex and there are no clear answers, that should be made clear right up front. Scientists normally make claims like this in papers that are submitted for peer review. UA-cam allows anyone to say anything and not get challenged.
@@janetbayford133 you didn't watch it. She makes the case that it is the whole North Atlantic circulation pattern that is being disturbed and may result in the Gulf Stream being redirected further South which would result in the warmer waters not reaching Northern Europe.
Thank you for the class! Is really hard to make people accept that AMOC & Gulf Stream are related but different things. Problem with AMOC stopping are the consequences to the oxigen levels in the deeps.
So you are responsible for the confusion? Communication to the public should be top priority for scientists. Instead, it's somehow just based on luck what few the the science journalist happens to understand. So please, scientists just keep in mind: journalists are idiots.
It's a German thing. Every three years the Potsdam Institute pushes this into the media and then the circus restarts. To me it's just another way of scaring people to accept being ruled by totalitarians. -Not afraid of 1 degree warmer earth? Here we have an opposite scenario to scare you with. When things get too complicated most people give up and just follow the leader, until the dust settles.
There isn't that much confusion really. The "Gulf Stream" is just a term which has slightly different meanings in different contexts. Sabine, being a physicist, should be more than familiar with the concept of scientists redefining pre-existing terms ;) Most of the time, I think of the Atlantic Gyre as a sort of highway, and the Gulf Stream as one of the roads that highway uses. The AMOC is the whole circuit/route in some contexts, but often just gets used when talking about the North Atlantic thermohaline overturning bit (the part which might get disrupted by our current climate change.) BTW: I wonder what would happen to the Gulf Stream is the middle of North America because an shallow sea again...
@@travcollier Due to techtonics, the middle of America is much higher elevation now and assuming ALL ice melted tomorrow, sea level would only rise 72 meters, which for most of the gulf and atlantic coast would mean the coastline would be70-90 miles further inland on average (with almost all of Florida being underwater). The only states that would gain coastlines would be Vermont, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri, all other currently landlocked states would still be landlocked. The topography under the water now would not change and currents require fairly deep water to maintain, and with the curve of the North American coast being mostly the same (but 70 miles further inland) the current would still end up flowing back to northern Europe.
@@DiMacky24 Yeah, I was mostly joking about that... As well as reminding folks that there are also geologic timescales. Thanks though... Your explanation is quite good. PS: I grew up in Texas and went out fossil hunting every once in a while as a kid. Now I live in Florida...
I'm a science educator in CA and love your concise syntheses and no BS approach. This caught my eye because I thought YOU were conflating the gulf stream with the AMOC! I hadn't even noticed media doing this! I do like my gewurztraminers...
I've been following you for a long time and I am very happy that you are successful. It would probably have been worth mentioning that the perihelion is in early January every year but that would have probably been too much for most people ;)
My father was born in the 30s. He qualified as a metallurgist back in the 50s he was extremely concerned about global warming and the collapse of the AMOC in the early 60s. Data would have been thin on the ground back then but many of these concerns have been around for a lot longer than people seem to realise
@@electronresonator8882 Nothing much? I guess you haven't been paying attention. The Texas freezes we're seeing now where in the making back then. And we could have prevented this whole issue with minor adjustments had we acted then. Instead, it's going to require major work and causing billions in damages.
@@Paul-ou1rx this is false; you should read up on it and nottake my word Only one man said there was goingto be a return to ice age conditions the news is who was talking about it, not scientist scientist, even nat geo, were talking about global warming
@@Paul-ou1rx Except that there wasn't a consensus when it came to an ice age. Although fun fact, we are in an ice age right now (If you wanted to be technical about it).
Sabine thank you for this video! Love the humour, not very German .....more Britiish so I really appreciate it. Content and explanations were too notch
I like the video format how many things I know are all placed together to form an understanding! Still having problem remembering the coriolis effect after a while but imagining a ball thrown out of a car always helps me.
A PBS video says when the AMOC stops, the water level on the US East coast goes up 1 meter and Europe goes down the same. I kept waiting for Sabine to mention this, but maybe that point is more speculative than PBS implied.
Very well done. I have known about these currents and circulation patterns for a great many years. Your presentation puts them into a concise synopsis. Yes nicely done and thank you.
I will teach about this on Monday. A great summing up of what we know on the subject One small error I noticed is the "North Atlantic Gyre". There should be Subtropical in its name because there is a another one the Subpolar Gyre (turning the other way) north of it. Also it is not fresh water from sea ice which can stop AMOC but rather water from melting Greenland ice sheet. But those are very minor nitpicks.
I have just made a response video and argue that she is downplaying the impact the melting of the Greenland ice sheet may have. It could have a significant impact on the climate of Europe and by not covering it adequately in this video she is painting too rosy a picture of what current climate science foresees.
@@bumblebaa2327 Those funnels and generally geothermal heat have only a minor role close to the mid-ocean ridges. It seems strange as the geothermal heat flux in the oceans is some 30 TW and overturning circulation needs only 2 TW of mixing energy to function. But from thermodynamic reasons you can get only a small fraction of the 30 TW to perform work due to the small temperature differences between ocean water masses.
As a southern hemispherer, I can confirm the Earth rotates the same direction here as in the North. Last time I checked at least. I can check back again tomorrow, just in case. 😀
@@marrs1013 I can already imagine someone who believes in the Mandela Effect as being related to multiverse or other words stuff (instead of faulty memory) "I am 100% sure the sun used to rise in the west and set in the east, back when I was a kid"
As someone who learned the wrong information from Kurzgesagt, thank you for informing us of this significant difference between the gulf stream and the AMOC!
Extraordinarily clear explanation of a topic I didn't even know I wasn't clear on (probably because I'm in the US and don't drink wine) that I nonetheless thoroughly enjoyed learning about. Thank you.
The southern jet stream is referred to in Australia as the "roaring 40's" (40⁰ latitude) These were named by sailoros in the 1600's that used them to gain speed going East
I used the term 'gulf stream' just the other day to explain the benefits we (in Europe) get from warming from the Atlantic from the west. I'll be more careful from now on.
I think she said that’s true in the first part. The confusion involves what currents are actually effected by climate change, and that the Gulf Stream cannot just “disappear” Maybe I understood this wrong?
Honestly, the original study was one I dismissed immediately when it said this drastic change would happen "Sometime between 2025 and 2115." like okay, if the math isn't set enough to put together a time frame within *90 years,* then I've got no confidence that it has any of the conclusions right in the first place.
I learned more in this short presentation than I did spending hours trying to figure it out online several years ago. I thought I understood until now! Knowledge of physics ads such depth to my experience of life, even when waiting for the pan of water to boil.
This explains why my Vancouver Hong Kong flight is two hours more going Vancouver to Hong Kong. I saw it on my itinerary the other day and guessed this....wind. Hooray for me. Thanks for the explanation
Thank you so much for covering this topic. I have struggled to explain to others the difference between the Gulf stream and the AMOC. You're video gives me some great talking points? (Yes there are a lot of people who do believe the media hype.)
5:45 When you said that a lot of sea animals use it for transport, the sea turtles going to Australia via the East Australian Current in Finding Nemo came to mind. 😅
Most people - including myself until a few minutes ago - consider the Gulf Stream and the AMOC to be the same thing. Thanks for the info! Tim Palmer's "The Primacy of Doubt" is a great book, btw!
Fortunately, we have world-class wineries here in Michigan! I found the Gulf Stream to be fascinating when I was in the Navy. I was serving in the engine room of an aircraft carrier and I knew when we entered the Gulf Stream because the sea water temperature entering the main engine condenser would change drastically in just a minute or two. This caused the vacuum in the condenser to change -- and that showed up on the main engine instrument panel.
I would take issue with "world-class wineries here in Michigan". There's a reason why we talk about 'old world' and 'new world' wines. Old world wines have historically been matured naturally over time to nurture their inherent qualities, whereas new world wines are an instant artificial cocktail of laboratory-designed yeast and artificial flavour. Some US wines are very gluggable, and there are some which I would buy for a bbq or fast food based on the price. But I have NEVER found a new world wine which can compare to a well-crafted, properly matured old world wine from a good year.
@@mimikurtz2162 That's a fairly extreme generalization, especially considering that old world wines were grafted onto American rootstocks during the phyllofera epidemic of the 19th century. "well-crafted, properly matured old world wine from a good year." I'll grant you that if you represent 'old world' by the very top grapes and regions, and only from good years on top of that, you'll have a hard time finding anything that can compare, but the reality is that the best new world wines have compared favorably since the 1970s, at least in the judgment of professional tasters. Whether Michigan has world-class wineries is different question. I'll have to investigate that claim at some point.
@@haroldlanceevans Enjoy your investigations! 🍷🥴 My main point, which I may have failed to clarify, is the difference in vinification. Perhaps instead of "new world" I should have said "new world style" in which the wine is artificially flavoured and hurried by the use of designer yeasts to produce a rapid acceptable result which can be kept fairly constant across the years. Whereas an "old world style" wine matures much more slowly sparked by only a simple yeast and relying instead on the art of the winemaker to persuade the grapes to give their full potential. Thus, to a traditional European winemaker, good new world style wines will always be a good average quality even in a bad year but will never soar to the heights of some old world style wines in a good year. The best old world style wines in a particular year are not always produced by famous names. During 30 years of touring wine districts the two best white wines I ever found both came from small cooperatives, and the second best red was made by a vegetable farmer who only bottled 200 cases of three different grapes each year as a side line.
I have news for you, climate change is going to affect Michigan too. Expect crop failures, toxic algal blooms in the great lakes, wildfires and spread of diseases that are normally killed by cold winters. The quip about wine is a joke, as if to say the only thing Americans will care about is if they can't get booze. And if you think Michigan will be a climate haven, then you better get ready for the millions of refugees from southern states and countries. Michigan in the mean time gets most of its energy from coal.
Truly well done! I have seen many of these headlines, and even the video by Kurzgesagt. This video does answer some questions I have had regarding the 'long-term' effects. Which is to say, noone quite knows :) I also keep seeing that Europe truly is blessed by fall-back mechanisms cooling us down when the earth in general heats up.
@@fabiankempazo7055 It's this video ua-cam.com/video/UuGrBhK2c7U/v-deo.html Sorry, I'd forgotten to add the card, it's in the video now. It's a great video otherwise!
Unfortunately, not so well done. Ms. Hossenfelder completely fails to discuss the very real and large impacts we can expect from the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
@@fepeerreview3150 : The melting of ice in Greenland (and Antarctica, etc) seems like a different topic, except that one would expect a slowdown of the "gulf stream" to slow the rate of melting of the ice.
Very good. I do wonder about the El Nino-La Nina circulation (ENSO) being changed. It is aperiodic and seemingly triggered by small events. If it becomes stuck it will be very dry in either Australia or California. Currently, there have been 3 La Ninas in a row but historically not unusual.
I believe the models are mostly inconclusive but are leaning into the possibility of a more persistent/stronger El Nino pattern under global warming. The driver might be that the warming equatorial waters will tend to reduce the west-to-east ocean temperature gradients that drive the trade winds.
We are having milder winters here in Massachusetts. Really mild! The river where I live hasn,t frozen once! I read some scientists prediction that we would have milder winters because they had measured a change in the Gulf Stream due to earth shift. This was about a decade ago. They didn,t predict a collapse but a subtle shift. True enough for a decade our winters are increasingly milder.
I think its hard to attribute warmer winters to the gulf stream alone. It could also have other causes, such as some fancy cold winds that did not reach you but only texas. It might be gulf stream, but I would keep in mind that correlation and causation are different things.
Hi Anton, I agree with you (I live in ME) but strangely enough TX has suffered some of their harshest "winters" over the last few years, same for the Southern Hemisphere (South America). Ciao, L
Ice melt doesn't sink... but i'm surprised that a physician like doesn't refer to the other parts within a closed system - if the ice from the upper part of the iceberg is melt, the whole iceberg itself got lighter so it rises up creating more room for water lowering water level . So while the melted ice turned into water and the room for water the caused by the raised iceberg, keeps the water in same level... there is no extra water due to climate change. I'd expect that explanation from a physician
I think most classic sci fi stories respected physics at least a little. Only an artificial planet could do it. With the help of the best machine oil in the universe.
After watching a great interview with Dr. Richard Lindzen i learned a valuable lesson that he taught: Complex systems typically dont have "tipping points". Tipping points are characteristic of simple systems and binary systems where there might only be one or two states to change to from a current one. Complex systems such as ocean currents, climates, etc. have so many different states they can shift into its unrealistic to propose 'tipping points' in them. Also he mentioned how computer models struggle to accurately describe such large scale systems because of the complexity of fluid dynamics. i need to go back and cover the sectionnon computer models and what they are good at, and what they are poor at, but it was succinct.
I've been saying for years, they should desalinate seawater to relieve the droughts and emptying of reservoirs and aquifers around the lower latitudes, and dump the salt into the northern atlantic and arctic oceans to slow the dilution of the sea from glacier and ice cap melting...
I live in South Florida where I can swim in the ocean in December due to the gulf stream bringing warm water. But I went to Southern California in July and was shocked how cold the water was. Too cold for swimming, in my opinion, but Californians are probably use to it. I didn't go to California from Florida for the beaches, that's funny. But while I was there, I wanted to see if the ocean was really as cold as I heard, it was.
You can do that in a single day in the UK -- go for a swim in the relatively warm waters off the west coast of England, then get into your car and hop on over to the east coast and enjoy the frigid waters of the North Sea. Not quite as big a difference as Florida to California, but it's still quite striking.
Here in Northern California, it averages about 55 degrees. No one goes in without a wetsuit. Likewise we have very strong undertow and rip currents, because our beaches are generally steeper and more chaotically shaped. The geography is fun though, and it makes for interesting microclimates. I can drive for an hour and go from temperate arid to temperate rainforest.
@@cf453 No one? LOL! Thousands and thousands of people go in without wet suits. Surfers use wet suits. Divers use wet suits. Beach goers don't. Don't exaggerate. I lived there for twenty years and was in the Pacific many times without a wet suit, or a dry suit. ua-cam.com/video/Zt5waGABup4/v-deo.html
@@cageordie The topic was swimming, not faffing about in the shallows. I'll give you kudos and thanks for including a source though. A park ranger once explained to me that it's harmful to disturb sea lions on the beach because they get back in the water for safety. If they spend too much time swimming, they get hypothermic. Considering how well-insulated they are, that's pretty amazing. Granted this was up near Bodega Bay and Jenner, so maybe it's just that little bit colder up here.
That was a cleverly done & very entertaining video .. and I did not realise that Sabine had such a dry sense of humour .. A wonderful combination of lucidity & wit ..
Two key points from this video. 1. Ocean currents which heavily influence the climate in the UK and Europe could very well be significantly altered by climate change causing melting ice and the resulting change in ocean water density. 2. The consequences and modeling are uncertain, but the impact could very well be major, and be irreversible for 1000 years. Why would we choose to risk it?
I have an advanced degree in oceanography dating from the late 60s (Yes I know, I'm an old fart). In those days the understanding of the N Atlantic circulation had a warm surface current (Gulf Stream) flowing north like a river along the east coast of the US and the Canadian maritime, gradually spreading laterally, forming a clockwise gyre over the N Atlantic, turning south past southern Europe to reach Africa, then turning west towards the Caribbean to complete the circuit. But there is also a counter-current to the Gulf Stream, the Labrador Current flowing south out of the Canadian arctic/Greenland. Where the Gulf Stream is a warm, surface current, the Labrador is cold, high salinity water making it much denser so that it flows much deeper. Together, the two currents act in concert, without interference and constitute what we called the North Atlantic Conveyor. But, what might happen if the Labrador Current became much less salty through infusion of fresh water and thus less dense? It would flow at a shallower depth, perhaps even at the surface. And if that happened, the two great water currents would interfere. Perhaps stop flowing in the normal pattern, altogether? To my knowledge, that question was never resolved.
The important question isn't whether "the gulf stream will stop". The important question is whether AGW (anthropogenic global warming) will cause changes to the ocean currents which will bring about a major temperature drop to northern Europe. And the answer to that question is a very strong "YES". Ms. Hossenfelder's statement at 0:27 and the explanation about the AMOC which follows 10 minutes later, unfortunately, does very little to clarify that this is indeed the case. Basically all she does in this video is to correct people on the names of 2 ocean currents. Another _major_ flaw in this video is her complete failure to discuss the consequences of a melting of the Greenland ice sheet, a phenomenon that has already begun. It will have consequences far beyond a major rise in sea level. The influx of fresh water into the ocean will disrupt ocean ecosystems and our food supplies that come from those ecosystems. The influx of cold water will also speed up the process of the slowing down, and possibly complete stoppage of the thermohaline current. I give this video a B-. Everything she says in it is correct. But by presenting only a portion of the material and leaving out very important parts, some people are likely to come to the completely wrong conclusion.
Did you understand everything? We made a quiz that lets you check your knowledge: quizwithit.com/start_thequiz/1694173825915x485552587200464900
1:23
LOWER ZE GLOBE!
I understand quickly how smart you are and how dumb I am. LOL
But then the AMOC must have been constant through the history, if the earth rotation is the critical factor (?)
There's a new paper on AMOC collapse as of mid feb 2024. Will you cover it?
took your quizzie got 14/17 SO THERE
WOW! Sabine, I'm a recently retired US Government meteorologist (BS in Physics and MS in Meteorology). In this short video, you've brilliantly summarized my 2 years in graduate school! Thank you so much! I wish I could have viewed this video, when I was in graduate school nearly 40 years ago; in less than 15 minutes, you better explained the atmospheric/ocean interaction than all of my professors in graduate school! Incidentally, I so love your humor - "...the southern hemisphere rotates in the same direction as the northern hemisphere" LOL - so refreshing!!!
No she didn’t
yet she missed a few sets of data ... geologic records show this has happened 4 times before and marks the end of the last 4 ice ages in earths history .. making this a GEOLOGICAL NORM ... second she ignored the ice core records ... that show this has happened before this ice age started ... and history of the maya and the first nations people all have histories that have the melting of all the ice caps in our history ... making everything spewed by the media and these lying scientists FALSE ... mans contribution to global warming amounts to the same as a a person alone in a closed stadium like the astro dome and fartiing once ... THOSE ARE FACTS ... and not just cherry picked from one science discipline but derived from ALL of them ...
.
to prove me wrong you MUST prove the geologic record the ice core record and historical records wrong .. and since even the mayans knew about pluto before modern man found it ... that is an IMPOSSIBILITY.
Two years well spent???
Check it out, Larry:
"Last week research published in the journal Nature Communications suggested that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) could collapse around mid-century. Amoc is a vast movement of water around the Atlantic, driven by the downward flow of cold, salty water (which is denser than warmer, less salty water) in the far north of the ocean. It plays a major role in transferring heat from the tropics to the north, especially to northern Europe. Without it, the average temperature in this region would be between 3C and 8C cooler. The difference between the average temperature today and that of the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago (the point during the last ice age when the ice sheets were at their largest) is approximately 6C. Amoc has tipped between the “on” state and the “off” state many times in prehistory. As seawater in the northern Atlantic region warms and is diluted by meltwater running off ice and snow on land, the system reaches a critical threshold, beyond which the circulation shuts down. Scientists have been warning that, thanks to global heating, the system is weaker than it has been for 1,000 years, but a tipping was deemed unlikely this century. The new assessment suggests this might be optimistic."
George Monbiot, The Guardian 2/8/23
Education has improved over the last 40 years, just as sciences and technology have improved. Teaching is a technique which can be developed and refinded, after all.
If you want, check out the channel "Kurzgesagt - In a Nutshell". In my view the most efficient form of explaining compley matters in the shortest way possible. I studied Biology and I am just amazed how perfectly they are describing Biology themes in short, funny videos.
London's climate is controlled by Londoners. Older Londoners (like me) are really cool and don't like the winter and only come out of their homes in summer and therefore reduce the ambient temperature. Young Londoners are really hot (I used to be one) and become really active in winter negating the continental climate effect. The Gulf stream is where our petrol comes from.
And here I thought it was the tea kettles and luke warm BS expelled from most mouths.
I met a gay Londoner during pride in Texas. I can confirm he was hot.
@@Jalex92 London, UK, or London, TX?
So all I need to do is snatch a bunch of you geezers, smuggle you to Florida and I can finally have some cool weather? Human trafficking it is. Might you share your address with me kind sir? I'll be sending a black cab to pick you up. Would you like a blind fold or a full body burlap sack?
@@jhwheuer London, Ontario
"Last week research published in the journal Nature Communications suggested that the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) could collapse around mid-century. Amoc is a vast movement of water around the Atlantic, driven by the downward flow of cold, salty water (which is denser than warmer, less salty water) in the far north of the ocean. It plays a major role in transferring heat from the tropics to the north, especially to northern Europe. Without it, the average temperature in this region would be between 3C and 8C cooler. The difference between the average temperature today and that of the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago (the point during the last ice age when the ice sheets were at their largest) is approximately 6C. Amoc has tipped between the “on” state and the “off” state many times in prehistory. As seawater in the northern Atlantic region warms and is diluted by meltwater running off ice and snow on land, the system reaches a critical threshold, beyond which the circulation shuts down. Scientists have been warning that, thanks to global heating, the system is weaker than it has been for 1,000 years, but a tipping was deemed unlikely this century. The new assessment suggests this might be optimistic."
George Monbiot, The Guardian 2/8/23
I'm still in the camp of 'let's not fuck around and find out'
Love how she puts "no" on the thumbnail. It made me click the video because I really appreciate not tryna bait us in for an answer.
Except she did bait you. The actual answer is yes. It’s just the wrong question. No one says it would stop the Gulf Stream and if they do they mean that it would no longer be able to warm Europe. This video is pretty much the definition of hitting the lead. Not a single reference to the AMOX u tik the very end. Given retention rates most people would have missed the bit where she says but actually yes.
@@eomoran A typical YT video. One would expect nothing less these days.
I needed this video back in elementary school when they told us that wind patterns effected the trade between Europe and its colonies in the New World, but nobody explained why there were wind patterns. I was one of those kids who got frustrated about missing information. Thanks for clearing it up many years later.
Agree, I grew up in Australia and the existence of the trade winds played a major part in the discovery and eventual colonization of my country. Everyone just seemed to accept they exist and never bother to explain where they came from
Yeah, I remember that. Hated to wait until middle school and high school science classes to learn why.
@@jakeaurod - And now your kids can just google it !!
@@glenchapman3899 To be fair what you say is history and the wind patterns should be explained in geography class, though yes, this requires competent people writing school program to ensure both topics will be discussed about same time, and sadly most school programs are written by far right knuckle draggers screeching about CRT...
@@KuK137 Oh I get what you are saying. But somethings as simple as thats because the Earth rotates causes the winds. I would have been good to go
Seems like you focus 99.5% on countering oversimplification and uncertainty, and devote only a fraction of a sentence and an unlabeled image to the magnitude of the effect on Europe if the AMOC were to stop which is the thing that's actually driving this concern among climate scientists.
it is pseudoscience, video is made to make people calm and does not really address any real climate issue we hav. One year later and ops Eas-West winds were not there in Europe, instead we had Sahara air north as Scandinavia so where it is Gulf stream...?
Much of the confusion around Gulf Stream vs AMOC may be due the term "Gulf Stream" being used in a more narrow sense now, compared to earlier when the ocean water movement patterns and causes were less well understood. Hence "Gulf Stream" came to mean the whole deal about warmer water streaming towards Europe, and when some of that mechanism came to be understood as the separate phenomena AMOC, that did not suddenly change the colloquial meaning of "Gulf Stream". Scientists narrowing down the meaning of terms does not make the rest of the world stop using what they grew up with.
On a tangent from that, I wonder how much effect the availability of all sorts of information and misinformation today will have on the evolution of actual science. Science is limited by the formal process in rapidity of evolution; rumors purporting to be science only take half an hour to concoct and spread. I know our host has made a conciliatory video about the teleology of Flat Earthers, but those who eschew the entire science aspect are probably beyond hope.
"Climate Science" is perhaps one of the first fields to be saturated with things that are not science at all, but I was introduced to the "pseudoscience" of Continental Drift and what is now known as tectonic theory by a late 1950s science textbook in 8th grade.
I agree with Galileo as quoted in Bertolt Brecht's "Life of Galileo": "Someone asked the astronomer, 'Why should we go out of our way to look for things that that an only strike a discord in the ineffable harmony? Mr. Galileo was about to demonstrate the impossible. His new stars [visible with his telescope] would have broken the outer crystal sphere, which we know of on the authority of Aristotle.' Galileo replied, 'Truth is the child of Time, not of Authority. Our ignorance is infinite, let's whittle away just one [bit]. Why should we still want to be so clever when at long last we have a chance of being a little less stupid?' "
@@flagmichael I suppose that a main risk may be real science losing out in popularity and hence funding, when fast streams like TikTok grow as sources of *what to think".
What happened to the North Atlantic Drift?
Not to mention the aerospace company 'Gulfstream' hehehe
Yes: Pluto may no longer be considered a planet, but it still remains "one of the nine planets" most of us grew up with... 😉
Sabine's humor is one of the great attractions of the channel. ... "the southern hemisphere and the northern hemisphere, yes, they rotate in the same direction. She is the best.
@mindfornication4fun If you "woman" is laying flat, may I suggest you try to reinflate and then use the stopper in the valve this time.
Nah it's clockwise here in Australia and anti clockwise in the USA!!! Lol and that of course is the brilliance of Sabine's explanation. Because of course relativity comes into play because if I am at the Equator and the air mass is being dragged East slower than the earth is spinning then for me it feel like a West wind even though the air mass is travelling East! Interestingly winds in Equatorial zones can travel faster but because air mass is much less the force is much less than colder air in southern or northern hemispheres. Ask any old sailor.
And of course the Earth isn't going to stop spinning or the sun shining! Possibly Sabine's best video.
Yeah, Sabine is the exception that proves the rule that Germans have no sense of humour. Part of her attraction is that she so brilliantly proves this with her sly one liners. Love this channel and her explanation of the Coriolis Effect was probably the most succinct that I've seen in over 50 years of looking deeply into meteorology and physics. She did it with a globe and her fingers. Brilliant.
Are you sure? Then why does the bathtub water drain in the opposite direction?
She is just pulling some sort of your anatomy. I have been to Costa Rica and Toronto. I looked over my right shoulder and the animals were very different. Can you explain? Was that the Twilight Zone?
Thank you, Sabine, for an excellent example of when it's hard to tell the difference between semantics and pedantry.
The title of this video is clickbait. It suggests a scientific answer to an important question about the future climate of Europe. The answer "what you call Gulf Stream is technically the AMOC. Your question, well I don't have an answer to that ..."
The thing with something like AMOC is that because the data isn't enough and the models lacking, there is uncertainty both ways. It might not collapse at all and then again it might cllapse sooner with unforseen ramifications. Some other potential tipping points also may never happen but there may be tipping points that we are unaware of. Lots of unknowns riding on what we do know.
Indeed. There might not be any tipping point at all. As ice melts and AMOC slows, that would 'self-regulate' by not bringing as much warm water northward to cause further melting. And of course if ice caps started growing, the salt left behind from the freezing would make salinity rise in northern waters, boosting AMOC circulation.
But that's just a guess from my limited understanding, obviously the system is much more complex than what a 'Saturday morning arm-chair analysis' can provide. 😉😉
@@mikefochtman7164 When the AMOC slows down, the atmosphere over the North Atlantic and Europe radiates less heat into space, which increases the temperature elsewhere including Antarctica, where the amount of melting is still conditional on our behavior (the Greenland Ice Sheet is already certain to be lost in 500 years).
THIS
So what do you propose? Sit on our hands and do nothing until will have a 100% accurate model? Or maybe, take the warnings of scientists and act before it's too late (if it goes that way). And if it wasn't going to go that way, we've done a good thing anyway...
Yeah, the world's in a shit mess because of people like you! (People who refuse to do anything, because ' there's uncertainty'. I genuinely hate your type.)
Totally true, how about doing a gigantic global experiment to find out?
Oh, we already started - interesting, I'll get the popcorn...
I love Dr. Hossenfelder's presentation style with her clear breakdown of the topic including visual clues to help activate quicker learning!
Strongly agree.
I know! Right!
She makes things understandable.
She's awesome
Visual CLUES are a distraction. Think 4 URSELF.
@@darrylbunch6929 Good point; as Te POLR I learn differently. I would recommend that you have compassion on your humanity.
My mother lives in Vancouver, BC and when she corresponded with her relatives in Long Island, New York, they couldn't get their heads around the idea that Vancouver winters were generally milder than New York ones. In their minds, Vancouver being in Canada and further north must be colder.
In addition to the currents, the fact that the ocean is quite deep right off the coast causes the ocean and air temperatures to be more stable
New york is just slightly colder in winter than vancouver, both have light winter snowfalls in normal conditions, but Vancouver is colder than NY in summer, New York's summers are fuckin hell.
Yes and the average winter minima can easily be compared with USDA plant hardiness zone map, also used outside of US. You guys in Vancouver have palms outside, no palms in NY 😌
wait till they find out that vladivostok is 13 degrees colder in winter than reykjavik despite being 1500 miles closer to the equator (both coastal cities)
What an excellent presentation, Sabine!! Thanks for this straightforward clarification!
Wonderfully clear presentation for the non-physicist (in my case, biologist). Thank you for this latest example of your remarkable commitment to science education.
She doesn't mention positive and negative vorticity, which are more influential than those Hadley cells.
Dr Jordan B Peterson and Dr. Richard Lindzen dive into the facts of climate change, the models used to predict it, the dismal state of academia, and the politicized world of “professional” science.
Richard Lindzen is a dynamical meteorologist. He has contributed to the development of theories for the Hadley Circulation, hydrodynamic instability theory, internal gravity waves, atmospheric tides, and the quasi-biennial oscillation of the stratosphere. His current research is focused on climate sensitivity, the role of cirrus clouds in climate, and the determination of the tropics-to-pole temperature difference. He has attained multiple degrees from Harvard University, and won multiple awards in his field of study such as the Jule Charney award for “highly significant research in the atmospheric sciences”. Between 1983 and 2013, he was the Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Sciences at MIT where he earned emeritus status in July of 2013.
ua-cam.com/video/7LVSrTZDopM/v-deo.html
Plumerologist my self
@@jerbiebarb perhaps you could explain?
@@alanhat5252 chatgpt says;
explain how positive vorticity generates weather and sustains regional climates
Positive vorticity is an important factor in generating and sustaining weather and regional climates. This is because it causes air to move in a cyclonic or counterclockwise direction in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. This movement of air causes air masses to collide and mix, resulting in the formation of low and high pressure systems which create different weather conditions. The movement of air also helps to transport heat and moisture, allowing for clouds and precipitation to form. This circulation of air helps to regulate the temperature and humidity in a region, ultimately sustaining the regional climate.
more
Positive vorticity helps to transport energy from the tropics to the poles. This energy helps to drive the global climate system, which keeps regional climates in balance. Without the energy transported by positive vorticity, regional climates would be much less stable.
Great video, very informative, and as usual, Sabine is detailed and accurate in her explanations yet very approachable. Well done.
Yeah but still she’s wrong about how the Gulf Stream is powered by only the rotation of the earth. The temperature difference between equator and poles makes up the wind speed and because of climate change the poles heat up faster than the equator and so all winds, which power the ocean currents on the surface, like the Gulf Stream. Complete clickbait as the Gulf Stream is used for the amoc too
Well the accuracy could be debated.
" Could be "..????? Yes indeed.!
It absolutely could be !!
Thank you for explaining this. I live on the Atlantic Coast of Florida, where the Gulf Stream is only 30 kms offshore. (South of us, it's only 15 kms offshore.) Fishing boats take people out there to fish for sailfish and marlin. You can see the Gulf Stream very clearly when you reach it, since it's a different color from the water it flows through.
I wish I had known that when I lived there, would've been something I'd try to see in person.
I'm also thinking that having the Gulfstream so close to shore might also contribute to the stronger currents and waves I experienced swimming at East Coast beaches. I could bob around in the same spot all day at a Gulf beach, but I always had to fight rip currents at Vero and other Atlantic side beaches. But, I should double check that my assumptions are on track.
🍀✌️😎
@@erinmac4750 The Gulf Stream comes closest to shore at Palm Beach. Northward of that, it gets farther and farther away, so it depends on where you lived. Also, although the Gulf Stream does have an effect on weather conditions that come from the east, it's not responsible for the Atlantic's rougher conditions. I think that's more because of the Atlantic's size. I grew up on the Texas Gulf Coast, so I know what you mean about how much gentler the Gulf of Mexico is.
The moisture that South Detroit got yesterday came from the Gulf of Mexico. The cold air that created the snow yesterday came from the North Pacific. The N Atlantic and N Pacific operates much the same as a old Ford model A radiator gravity cooling system.
So far January came December and December so far is in January. BUT January is not over and 18 CM is coming soon. I am waiting for the next snowicane like '78 & 70CM
@@jerryyoung-m7g I was in P'cola in 83 and 84. Quite nice. Last summer not so nice at the end of summer. One thing you can be sure the weather changes. Now I am in South DE-troit. Kinda warm today 1C
me, too
Thank you! This one was keeping me up at night. Apparently those articles spreading fear really got to me. You really put things into perspective.
Always keep in mind that reporters aren't trained in anything other than reporting, they know absolutely nothing about science (Graham Hancock comes to mind as he's in the news recently). They constantly get science news wrong or will report on some new study as if it is settled science, forgetting their 6th grade science lesson that one experiment is only the beginning of the scientific method, it requires the experiment to be run many, many, many.... times and get the same result every time to be science. Most become reporters because they weren't good at anything else and work in print because they aren't pretty enough to be on TV.
@grindupBaker An ice age is more of a global phenomenon than your local air temp. The older teaching was that an ice age would come on gradually over thousands or tens of thousands of years, but other studies have suggested that temperature oscillations have shifted into noticeably colder regimes within a decade. So, you're right that "plunging" is used by alarmists to sound more extreme than the norm, however the irony is that plunging may simply be the norm.
IMO, nothing DR H. says here either allays AGW fear/concern or feeds it.., nor is meant to pointedly do so, I think....
She simply says that the possible changes to Atlantic Ocean currents are too complex, as yet, for present human comprehension or our reliable prediction-making, given our present level of science [and thus our ability to establish even-likely-probabilities about how AGW might cause unacceptably-negative consequences for some or many humans......
Therefore, intelligent CAUTION needs to remain humanity's guiding principle in all areas of Today's human mass technological developments...especially in areas of human endeavor that can or might direley affect the natural earth systems that allow continuance of the biosphere that makes civilized human life on earth sustainable....
Thanks for this video! Just a regular person here who had heard headlines about the Gulf Stream in trouble and appreciate your video!
No matter what Tim Palmer says, I agree with Dr. Hossenfelder that a global, irreversable experiment with so many unknowns might not be the greatest idea ever.
Paris and Montréal are nearly the same latitude. Montréal has long, harsh winters, while Paris has mild winters where snow is rare. No one lives more than 100 km north of Montréal because it's just too cold. The entire UK is north of Paris, as are countries like Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, and a large part of Germany. Trust me, you don't want Northern Canada's climate in Northern Europe.
You should not dismiss the native people who live by thousands well over 100 km north of Montreal it's just rude...
@@raminagrobis6112 There are ~150 million people who live north of Paris in Europe. There's barely 100k people who live in Northern Canada. Quebec alone is about the same size as Western Europe, and only a tiny fraction is habitable..
@@AxelQC You don't need to tell that to a Quebecers. I was merely pointing out that using "No one lives at more than 100 km from Montreal" is impolite towards the many First Nation inhabitants of our vast northern territory.
Yes but you speak about the current situation. Tomorrow's Northern Canada will have a much milder climate because of global warming. And then England is not in such a big danger either, after all.
@@akostarkanyi825 That's the Canadian shield, which is too rocky and has no fertile soil.
Fantastic way to explain such a complex subject. Thank you for this episode!
FYI: JPL just launched the Wide Swath Ocean Altimeter, which will map these turbulent gyres at a much smaller scale than every before. Basically, the gyres have a small parabolic shape (inches high, miles wide) that are measurable with a radar altimeter.
@grindupBaker I think that the changes and ocean currents when they become significant will be glaringly obvious.
Why should I believe anyone who hides behind a fake name?
Are you really a Doctor?
What are your bona fides?
These are vital in any scientific ADULT conversation.
Great, but the deep ocean and it's salinity at a global scale is not at all well monitored and that's the problem with climate models because they don't consider the volumes/speed and heat exchange taking place down there and it's cyclic long-term impact on the surface temperature.
@@MichaelKingsfordGray we had a tobacco commercial and we showed a bunch of doctors with an alphabet behind their names testifying before Congress that tobacco was neither habit-forming not harmful. What you were talking about is a logic flaw called reference to authority.
@@albertvanlingen7590 you are absolutely right we should never pay a penny to anybody who doesn't have an absolutely exact model of the ocean.
This video is secretly "Sabine debunks flat earth theory"
I feel that the title of this videobis missleading, because the subtleties that Sabine mentions might be relevant at the oceanographer level of knwoeledge, the overall effect, as Sabine herself says in the video, is that less warm water will reach Europe if salinity levels drop. The title ends up confuses people and in certain countries can and will be surely used to delay urgent climate action, which might not be Sabine's intention but might likely be the result.
Vielen Dank für das tolle Video!
Sabine, thanks for waving that book slowly enough I could catch the title, now it's on my wish list (along with a couple hundred others in topics ranging from math to physics to medicine}. 😊
You could have pasted the isbn you know
@@LA-MJ Raymond T. Pierrehumbert - Principles of Planetary Climate - Cambridge University Press (2011)
I'm not a big viewer of youtube videos because i'm mostly sorry for the time wasted. But Sabine's posts are fantastic. Complex topics treated in a clear structure and this wonderful humor, a pleasure! Many, many thanks, please keep it up!
Oh no, did you forget to quantify the cost-efficiency of writing this comment? Be careful!
I had fun once last month by mistake, it was horrifying when I realized! I lost a whole 2 minutes and 43 seconds of productivity (which amounted to $3.71 in opportunity cost, I calculated)
But a lot people put UA-cam on in background while busy doing something else like what do with radio .
PLUS she is a really hot nerd.
Brilliant small-packed documentary. I've diaried to watch it a few times more to understand. I am in Australia and was brought up in the '60s with Dorothea Mackellar's poem which a phrase is: "I love a sunburnt country. A land of sweeping plains, Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains." So true for me today.
The colder climate in Edinburgh is vitally important for Mathematics. If people could go outside, no maths would get done
True. Try to concentrate in 60F, or 110F degree temperature. Which would you prefer?
Archimedes was doing maths in the rather hot climate of Sicily, Pithagoras in nearby Croton. It's not climate which determines maths, sry. Also it may get too cold for anyone to live there anyhow, that's what happened in the Younger Dryas, which is the precedent this fear builds upon.
Imagine thinking that Edinburgh has cold climate
:)
@@LuisAldamiz This was the comment no one needed, bu we thank you for your consideration any way! This is why I recommend putting "sarcasm alerts' or 'humor alerts' for our friends who learn English as a second language and may miss it the first read through! Thank you again, Mr. Aldamiz!
Thanks Sabine for this very clear and easy to understand explanation. Lets hope that the mainstream media will take notice of this as wellicht.
Actually, if the effect is the same as they’re predicting, what does it matter what they call it? Seriously…
@sethtenrec I think you missed the point young feller.
" clear and easy to understand "
generally , as here , equates to
being wrong .!
I've watched a lot of science videos on UA-cam. Sabine is the best. I've learned new things from her even on the subjects I thought I have all the relevant info.
Sabine, I love your sense of humor.
Thank You Sabine for this exquisite tutorial on these systems! Love the way you teach! & You got a new follower! :)
As always I am now smarter than I was before Sabine provided facts for my brain to work on and understand. Thank you Sabine, for clearing up so many questions I had about this topic!!
very important topic… i was unaware of the controversy. it is excellent that you are explaining this to the general public. words have specific meaning that may change over time as we gather more information. distinct words have distinct consequences. So its important to clarify those distinctions after decades of research.
all of science is based on precise definitions, the meaning of words does not change.
Wow I am from Boston and I always wondered about that. I always assumed the more north you went the colder it was. This was until I went to college and I was shocked to find meet people from Vancouver and they told me it didn’t really snow there
BUT THE WINTER OLYMPICS WERE THERE I said
And they said the snowy stuff was in Whistler in the mountains
Then I met people from the UK and Ireland I talked to them about Christmas
And snow
And I couldn’t believe that a place on the globe so north had no pond hockey culture!
And it was around this time I was studying environmental science and learned about this and it blew my mind
Here is another thing that blows my mind
The beaches in Boston get warmer than Santa Monica in the summer and get really cold.
I think
Something like that
I went to the beach in Santa Monica on a hot December day
All my family from Southern California said the water is cold
And I said you just think that because you are from California
I’m from Massachusetts and this water is so warm to me
And it felt warm!
But in actuality it is quite cold
Again because of currents
The world is wild
The places you’d have to go in Canada to get the large amount of daylight in the summer as Ireland are so far north that it’s hard to even drive there
"In case you're in the US and don't really care, let me mention that the US is the biggest importer of European wine, so you should care" 😭
That is a good point
Well i dont live in europe so i dont need to give a shit
On the other hand Europeans would chill out.
Princess Grace couldn't tell the difference between a Cabernet Sauvignon from France or California, and liked California wine better, so maybe they shouldn't release the irradiated Fukushima water into the Kuroshio Stream?
Still don't care 🙂
One thing to add: Even if the AMOC turns off and the temperatures in Europe drop by up to 5 C, globally the temperature will still continue to rise.
There is a 6 years old presentation from climatologist Stefan Rahmstorf called "is the gulf stream system slowing" on UA-cam.
He focusses on the AMOC, which _is_ slowing down.
I recommend to to everyone to watch this video before you draw false conclusions.
And there is a brand new lecture by Rahmstorf on the occasion of receiving the Wegener medal in April 2024. It's an excellent lecture. Same topic (AMOC) with more detailed explanation and information from a bunch of his and others' more recent studies and reviews.
@@7phyton thanks!
I just found it! Man, was he moved by being honored so much 😲 🥺
yes it is slowing down I agree.
Well, now in 2024 it has been revealed that the whole measurement issue has severe difficulties-the data has now begun to indicate an increase in AMOC velocity, suggesting it is a natural variation we are seeing. This is the problem with the Potsdam guys-they are so totally on the tank they have been known to jump way ahead of the data when in a hurry.
@@hinckleybuzzard12 Do you have a source for that? Even if that is true though, just the chance of the AMOC collapsing is so extremely grim, we should still do our utmost to prevent that from happening.
Brilliant video, Sabine. Clear and direct with a touch of your subtle humour. Thank you very much.
Dear Sabine, Thank you so much for your talks. I discovered them only a day ago and they are just right for me. I seem to recall from some time ago that a research group set up a simulation of the Thermohaline Circulation. I think they found that if it stops it will stop suddenly. I also seem to recall from the NOAA that the Gulf Stream, the tail, you mentioned, has been reaching much further South than before, the coast of Spain, whereas some years ago it was reaching much further North, to Scotland. Again thanks
If someone tells me for a certainty something they can't possibly know. I stop listening.
What?
@@cavulocappoccio7690 If someone tells you something is an absolute fact when they can't know it's a fact, then their judgement or objectivity is flawed and their opinion is not worth taking time over.
Sabbine, could you make a video on the Earth's magnetic fields? And what happens when they flip over 100s or 1000s of years? And what happens during an excursion? There's a lot of misinformation, pseudoscience and fear mongering around this topic.
JRE?
Thanks for the suggestion, I will keep that in mind!
A salt water (haline) oscillator was my high school science fair project. I didn't win. It was slow and I wasn't wearing the Navier Stokes t-shirt. I needed that. Also I didn't know anything about Navier Stokes. I fixed that later.
Thank you for this video! I would give it more thumbs up but they only allow one. (I do have two thumbs ...)
You can do two thumbs up 👍👍, or did you just watch "The Banshees of Inisherin"
Just because Sabine Hossenfelder is a theoretical physicist, it doesn’t mean she is right about everything. Even Einstein was wrong about some things, and she isn’t Einstein. Never simply accept that what anyone says is right because A: it agrees with what you believe, B: It sounds much nicer than what might actually happen and C: without reading what experts in the actual field under discussion say. Always keep an open mind- the climate is immensely complex and I am very suspicious of anyone who says they actually understand it fully.
She says that it is complex and that we don't have good enough models to produce reliable predictions. What is your point? Did you pay attention?
@@ianbruce6515 Pity the headline didn’t make that clear. What grabbed my attention more was the number of people who appeared to simply have accepted that she is right and all the climate scientists are wrong. It’s like a tobacco industry ad telling everyone how good cigarettes are and then right at the end of the ad, in a very low voice saying “however cigarettes cause cancer and can kill”. If the science is complex and there are no clear answers, that should be made clear right up front. Scientists normally make claims like this in papers that are submitted for peer review. UA-cam allows anyone to say anything and not get challenged.
@@janetbayford133 you didn't watch it. She makes the case that it is the whole North Atlantic circulation pattern that is being disturbed and may result in the Gulf Stream being redirected further South which would result in the warmer waters not reaching Northern Europe.
Thank you for the class! Is really hard to make people accept that AMOC & Gulf Stream are related but different things. Problem with AMOC stopping are the consequences to the oxigen levels in the deeps.
Gulf Stream is just cooler name... or hotter
You usually lose me somewhere in your presentations, but I always love your sense of humor!
Don't feel bad. Half of the USA was gone after she said the planet was round.
@@lazygenes Sad but true,
@@lazygenes youre like an edgy kid in middle school thinking hes so smarter and better than anyone else
Thanks!
Didn't realize there was that much confusion about the difference between the amoc and the Gulf stream. Good to know. Thank you!
So you are responsible for the confusion?
Communication to the public should be top priority for scientists. Instead, it's somehow just based on luck what few the the science journalist happens to understand. So please, scientists just keep in mind: journalists are idiots.
It's a German thing. Every three years the Potsdam Institute pushes this into the media and then the circus restarts. To me it's just another way of scaring people to accept being ruled by totalitarians. -Not afraid of 1 degree warmer earth? Here we have an opposite scenario to scare you with. When things get too complicated most people give up and just follow the leader, until the dust settles.
There isn't that much confusion really. The "Gulf Stream" is just a term which has slightly different meanings in different contexts. Sabine, being a physicist, should be more than familiar with the concept of scientists redefining pre-existing terms ;)
Most of the time, I think of the Atlantic Gyre as a sort of highway, and the Gulf Stream as one of the roads that highway uses. The AMOC is the whole circuit/route in some contexts, but often just gets used when talking about the North Atlantic thermohaline overturning bit (the part which might get disrupted by our current climate change.)
BTW: I wonder what would happen to the Gulf Stream is the middle of North America because an shallow sea again...
@@travcollier Due to techtonics, the middle of America is much higher elevation now and assuming ALL ice melted tomorrow, sea level would only rise 72 meters, which for most of the gulf and atlantic coast would mean the coastline would be70-90 miles further inland on average (with almost all of Florida being underwater). The only states that would gain coastlines would be Vermont, Arizona, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Missouri, all other currently landlocked states would still be landlocked. The topography under the water now would not change and currents require fairly deep water to maintain, and with the curve of the North American coast being mostly the same (but 70 miles further inland) the current would still end up flowing back to northern Europe.
@@DiMacky24 Yeah, I was mostly joking about that... As well as reminding folks that there are also geologic timescales. Thanks though... Your explanation is quite good.
PS: I grew up in Texas and went out fossil hunting every once in a while as a kid. Now I live in Florida...
I have read all about much of the topic explained here before but this is a far more clear explanation so thank you for this!
yes i had heard of amoc, but never had the big picture all put together like this.
I'm a science educator in CA and love your concise syntheses and no BS approach. This caught my eye because I thought YOU were conflating the gulf stream with the AMOC! I hadn't even noticed media doing this! I do like my gewurztraminers...
Gewürztraminer sind fabelhaft und wunderbar.
Sabine is fantastic, great presentation. I have studied the gulf stream for years for sailboat racing.
I've been following you for a long time and I am very happy that you are successful. It would probably have been worth mentioning that the perihelion is in early January every year but that would have probably been too much for most people ;)
That was a wonderful clear and succinct way of explaining this topic.
My father was born in the 30s. He qualified as a metallurgist back in the 50s he was extremely concerned about global warming and the collapse of the AMOC in the early 60s. Data would have been thin on the ground back then but many of these concerns have been around for a lot longer than people seem to realise
despite he was extremely concerned in the 50s, but 70 years later nothing much happened right?
I wonder if scientist love hype too
@@electronresonator8882 Nothing much? I guess you haven't been paying attention. The Texas freezes we're seeing now where in the making back then. And we could have prevented this whole issue with minor adjustments had we acted then. Instead, it's going to require major work and causing billions in damages.
@@Llortnerof So the scientists in the 1970s talking about the coming ice age were spot on? Lots of people believe lots of things.
@@Paul-ou1rx this is false; you should read up on it and nottake my word
Only one man said there was goingto be a return to ice age conditions
the news is who was talking about it, not scientist
scientist, even nat geo, were talking about global warming
@@Paul-ou1rx Except that there wasn't a consensus when it came to an ice age.
Although fun fact, we are in an ice age right now (If you wanted to be technical about it).
Sabine thank you for this video!
Love the humour, not very German .....more Britiish so I really appreciate it.
Content and explanations were too notch
Awesome video, Sabine. Very informative
I like the video format how many things I know are all placed together to form an understanding! Still having problem remembering the coriolis effect after a while but imagining a ball thrown out of a car always helps me.
A PBS video says when the AMOC stops, the water level on the US East coast goes up 1 meter and Europe goes down the same. I kept waiting for Sabine to mention this, but maybe that point is more speculative than PBS implied.
Meter may be a bit much but the effect is logical
Gold for Netherlands 🇳🇱
Earth is round? you learn something new every day, thanks Sabine
Very well done. I have known about these currents and circulation patterns for a great many years. Your presentation puts them into a concise synopsis.
Yes nicely done and thank you.
Subscribed, what an excellent video, thank you.
I will teach about this on Monday. A great summing up of what we know on the subject
One small error I noticed is the "North Atlantic Gyre". There should be Subtropical in its name because there is a another one the Subpolar Gyre (turning the other way) north of it. Also it is not fresh water from sea ice which can stop AMOC but rather water from melting Greenland ice sheet. But those are very minor nitpicks.
I have just made a response video and argue that she is downplaying the impact the melting of the Greenland ice sheet may have. It could have a significant impact on the climate of Europe and by not covering it adequately in this video she is painting too rosy a picture of what current climate science foresees.
aren't there also funnels or chimneys in the deep see that power the Amoc and that have been less active?
@@fepeerreview3150 Yes, but models generally predict only some weakening (on average 30%) of the circulation in this century. Not a total collapse.
@@bumblebaa2327 Those funnels and generally geothermal heat have only a minor role close to the mid-ocean ridges. It seems strange as the geothermal heat flux in the oceans is some 30 TW and overturning circulation needs only 2 TW of mixing energy to function. But from thermodynamic reasons you can get only a small fraction of the 30 TW to perform work due to the small temperature differences between ocean water masses.
@@arctic_haze how much power is generated by the sun on average over the Atlantic?
As a southern hemispherer, I can confirm the Earth rotates the same direction here as in the North. Last time I checked at least.
I can check back again tomorrow, just in case. 😀
East is the direction of rotation.
North and South is the axis of rotation. Even on another planet.
Please do so! Consistency is one of the cornerstones of science. We are counting on you...
@@christopherellis2663 buddy you missed the joke.
@@christopherellis2663 "same direction here as in the northern hemisphere"
@@marrs1013 I can already imagine someone who believes in the Mandela Effect as being related to multiverse or other words stuff (instead of faulty memory)
"I am 100% sure the sun used to rise in the west and set in the east, back when I was a kid"
As someone who learned the wrong information from Kurzgesagt, thank you for informing us of this significant difference between the gulf stream and the AMOC!
Extraordinarily clear explanation of a topic I didn't even know I wasn't clear on (probably because I'm in the US and don't drink wine) that I nonetheless thoroughly enjoyed learning about. Thank you.
You are amazing, Sabine - hope all is well with you and your family!
There's one thing I love about your Channel.
You're so sure you're right about every subject❤
The southern jet stream is referred to in Australia as the "roaring 40's" (40⁰ latitude)
These were named by sailoros in the 1600's that used them to gain speed going East
Roaring 40s - And that is not the jet stream but the trade winds. Jet streams never get down low enough to the surface to effect objects such as ships
What is the origin of the word "sailoro" and what were they?
roaring 40's, howling 50's, SHRIEKING 60's! lol (those are the worst)
@@Alex_Gordon yeah I have seen footage of the big wind jammers plowing through the 60s Amazing to see
@@glenchapman3899 yeah those winds furthest to the south (60's) must be the coldest, the most violent and the most brutal ones
I used the term 'gulf stream' just the other day to explain the benefits we (in Europe) get from warming from the Atlantic from the west. I'll be more careful from now on.
I think she said that’s true in the first part. The confusion involves what currents are actually effected by climate change, and that the Gulf Stream cannot just “disappear” Maybe I understood this wrong?
@@jabrokneetoeknee6448 Right! The Gulf Stream can only "disappear" if the earth's rotation "disappears".
Honestly, the original study was one I dismissed immediately when it said this drastic change would happen "Sometime between 2025 and 2115." like okay, if the math isn't set enough to put together a time frame within *90 years,* then I've got no confidence that it has any of the conclusions right in the first place.
Sabine is number one!
I learned more in this short presentation than I did spending hours trying to figure it out online several years ago. I thought I understood until now! Knowledge of physics ads such depth to my experience of life, even when waiting for the pan of water to boil.
This explains why my Vancouver Hong Kong flight is two hours more going Vancouver to Hong Kong. I saw it on my itinerary the other day and guessed this....wind. Hooray for me. Thanks for the explanation
Thank you so much for covering this topic. I have struggled to explain to others the difference between the Gulf stream and the AMOC. You're video gives me some great talking points? (Yes there are a lot of people who do believe the media hype.)
I dunno, 5 degrees less for northern Europe is pretty bad
5:45 When you said that a lot of sea animals use it for transport, the sea turtles going to Australia via the East Australian Current in Finding Nemo came to mind. 😅
Very educational movie, Finding Nemo! I was impressed at the translation of the seagulls' calls! 🍀✌️😸
Thanks
Most people - including myself until a few minutes ago - consider the Gulf Stream and the AMOC to be the same thing. Thanks for the info!
Tim Palmer's "The Primacy of Doubt" is a great book, btw!
Fortunately, we have world-class wineries here in Michigan! I found the Gulf Stream to be fascinating when I was in the Navy. I was serving in the engine room of an aircraft carrier and I knew when we entered the Gulf Stream because the sea water temperature entering the main engine condenser would change drastically in just a minute or two. This caused the vacuum in the condenser to change -- and that showed up on the main engine instrument panel.
I would take issue with "world-class wineries here in Michigan". There's a reason why we talk about 'old world' and 'new world' wines. Old world wines have historically been matured naturally over time to nurture their inherent qualities, whereas new world wines are an instant artificial cocktail of laboratory-designed yeast and artificial flavour.
Some US wines are very gluggable, and there are some which I would buy for a bbq or fast food based on the price. But I have NEVER found a new world wine which can compare to a well-crafted, properly matured old world wine from a good year.
@@mimikurtz2162 That's a fairly extreme generalization, especially considering that old world wines were grafted onto American rootstocks during the phyllofera epidemic of the 19th century.
"well-crafted, properly matured old world wine from a good year." I'll grant you that if you represent 'old world' by the very top grapes and regions, and only from good years on top of that, you'll have a hard time finding anything that can compare, but the reality is that the best new world wines have compared favorably since the 1970s, at least in the judgment of professional tasters.
Whether Michigan has world-class wineries is different question. I'll have to investigate that claim at some point.
@@haroldlanceevans Enjoy your investigations! 🍷🥴
My main point, which I may have failed to clarify, is the difference in vinification. Perhaps instead of "new world" I should have said "new world style" in which the wine is artificially flavoured and hurried by the use of designer yeasts to produce a rapid acceptable result which can be kept fairly constant across the years. Whereas an "old world style" wine matures much more slowly sparked by only a simple yeast and relying instead on the art of the winemaker to persuade the grapes to give their full potential. Thus, to a traditional European winemaker, good new world style wines will always be a good average quality even in a bad year but will never soar to the heights of some old world style wines in a good year.
The best old world style wines in a particular year are not always produced by famous names. During 30 years of touring wine districts the two best white wines I ever found both came from small cooperatives, and the second best red was made by a vegetable farmer who only bottled 200 cases of three different grapes each year as a side line.
I have news for you, climate change is going to affect Michigan too. Expect crop failures, toxic algal blooms in the great lakes, wildfires and spread of diseases that are normally killed by cold winters. The quip about wine is a joke, as if to say the only thing Americans will care about is if they can't get booze.
And if you think Michigan will be a climate haven, then you better get ready for the millions of refugees from southern states and countries. Michigan in the mean time gets most of its energy from coal.
Confusion cleared up! Clear, concise, and wonderfully understandable. Thank you for presenting a brilliant explanation!
Truly well done!
I have seen many of these headlines, and even the video by Kurzgesagt. This video does answer some questions I have had regarding the 'long-term' effects. Which is to say, noone quite knows :)
I also keep seeing that Europe truly is blessed by fall-back mechanisms cooling us down when the earth in general heats up.
Which Kurzgesagt Video was it?
@@fabiankempazo7055 It's this video ua-cam.com/video/UuGrBhK2c7U/v-deo.html Sorry, I'd forgotten to add the card, it's in the video now. It's a great video otherwise!
Unfortunately, not so well done. Ms. Hossenfelder completely fails to discuss the very real and large impacts we can expect from the melting of the Greenland ice sheet.
It's going to stop the world turning, put out the sun, and dry up the oceans?
Quite an oversight
@@fepeerreview3150 : The melting of ice in Greenland (and Antarctica, etc) seems like a different topic, except that one would expect a slowdown of the "gulf stream" to slow the rate of melting of the ice.
Very good. I do wonder about the El Nino-La Nina circulation (ENSO) being changed. It is aperiodic and seemingly triggered by small events. If it becomes stuck it will be very dry in either Australia or California. Currently, there have been 3 La Ninas in a row but historically not unusual.
I believe the models are mostly inconclusive but are leaning into the possibility of a more persistent/stronger El Nino pattern under global warming. The driver might be that the warming equatorial waters will tend to reduce the west-to-east ocean temperature gradients that drive the trade winds.
@Emvironmental Chemist All of the research I’ve seen says that La Niña would be made permanent by the cessation of the AMOC.
Sabine you are a very clever lady 👏👏👏👏👏👏
We are having milder winters here in Massachusetts. Really mild! The river where I live hasn,t frozen once! I read some scientists prediction that we would have milder winters because they had measured a change in the Gulf Stream due to earth shift. This was about a decade ago. They didn,t predict a collapse but a subtle shift. True enough for a decade our winters are increasingly milder.
I think its hard to attribute warmer winters to the gulf stream alone. It could also have other causes, such as some fancy cold winds that did not reach you but only texas. It might be gulf stream, but I would keep in mind that correlation and causation are different things.
I worry that we're going to have a tick explosion since it doesn't look like New England is going to have prolonged near zero temps (F).
simply because the whole climate zone of borealis moved north... remember there is that thing of global warming.
Hi Anton, I agree with you (I live in ME) but strangely enough TX has suffered some of their harshest "winters" over the last few years, same for the Southern Hemisphere (South America). Ciao, L
@@lancelot1953 which is a direct consequence of weakening jet stream, and a completely different mechanism than the warming in Boston
Thanks. Both informative and entertaining. Love your sense of humour
Ice melt doesn't sink... but i'm surprised that a physician like doesn't refer to the other parts within a closed system - if the ice from the upper part of the iceberg is melt, the whole iceberg itself got lighter so it rises up creating more room for water lowering water level . So while the melted ice turned into water and the room for water the caused by the raised iceberg, keeps the water in same level... there is no extra water due to climate change.
I'd expect that explanation from a physician
A planet where the northern and southern hemisphere rotate in opposite directions would make for an interesting classic scifi story.
I think most classic sci fi stories respected physics at least a little.
Only an artificial planet could do it. With the help of the best machine oil in the universe.
@Retired Bore - True, maybe we should focus on that instead of global warming... it's a far more profitable Earth modification :)
@Retired Bore I don't believe multi verse
After watching a great interview with Dr. Richard Lindzen i learned a valuable lesson that he taught:
Complex systems typically dont have "tipping points". Tipping points are characteristic of simple systems and binary systems where there might only be one or two states to change to from a current one. Complex systems such as ocean currents, climates, etc. have so many different states they can shift into its unrealistic to propose 'tipping points' in them.
Also he mentioned how computer models struggle to accurately describe such large scale systems because of the complexity of fluid dynamics. i need to go back and cover the sectionnon computer models and what they are good at, and what they are poor at, but it was succinct.
Below X threshold whatever is left of current would be useless for policy purposes even if does exist
I've been saying for years, they should desalinate seawater to relieve the droughts and emptying of reservoirs and aquifers around the lower latitudes, and dump the salt into the northern atlantic and arctic oceans to slow the dilution of the sea from glacier and ice cap melting...
I love the topics, delivery and host.
Thank you for producing quality brain food.
I love her more.
@@TheWunder Nice!
I live in South Florida where I can swim in the ocean in December due to the gulf stream bringing warm water. But I went to Southern California in July and was shocked how cold the water was. Too cold for swimming, in my opinion, but Californians are probably use to it. I didn't go to California from Florida for the beaches, that's funny. But while I was there, I wanted to see if the ocean was really as cold as I heard, it was.
You can do that in a single day in the UK -- go for a swim in the relatively warm waters off the west coast of England, then get into your car and hop on over to the east coast and enjoy the frigid waters of the North Sea. Not quite as big a difference as Florida to California, but it's still quite striking.
Here in Northern California, it averages about 55 degrees. No one goes in without a wetsuit. Likewise we have very strong undertow and rip currents, because our beaches are generally steeper and more chaotically shaped. The geography is fun though, and it makes for interesting microclimates. I can drive for an hour and go from temperate arid to temperate rainforest.
@@cf453 No one? LOL! Thousands and thousands of people go in without wet suits. Surfers use wet suits. Divers use wet suits. Beach goers don't. Don't exaggerate. I lived there for twenty years and was in the Pacific many times without a wet suit, or a dry suit. ua-cam.com/video/Zt5waGABup4/v-deo.html
@@cageordie The topic was swimming, not faffing about in the shallows. I'll give you kudos and thanks for including a source though.
A park ranger once explained to me that it's harmful to disturb sea lions on the beach because they get back in the water for safety. If they spend too much time swimming, they get hypothermic. Considering how well-insulated they are, that's pretty amazing. Granted this was up near Bodega Bay and Jenner, so maybe it's just that little bit colder up here.
That was a cleverly done & very entertaining video .. and I did not realise that Sabine had such a dry sense of humour .. A wonderful combination of lucidity & wit ..
Two key points from this video.
1. Ocean currents which heavily influence the climate in the UK and Europe could very well be significantly altered by climate change causing melting ice and the resulting change in ocean water density.
2. The consequences and modeling are uncertain, but the impact could very well be major, and be irreversible for 1000 years. Why would we choose to risk it?
The Roland Emmerich documentary "The Day After Tomorrow" explains it a little bit differently . . .
My favorite documentary is "Armageddon." I think it was all shot on site.
Brilliantly clear explanation of these frequently quoted but usually misunderstood weather phenomena! Very clever and witty lady.
I was always a bit concerned about it shifting, especially during a rapid arctic melt event. Will watch this video with interest, thank you
@markholtdorf56 Any kind of aimless media consumption can lead to that. However I think you may have meant to respond to a different comment
I have an advanced degree in oceanography dating from the late 60s (Yes I know, I'm an old fart). In those days the understanding of the N Atlantic circulation had a warm surface current (Gulf Stream) flowing north like a river along the east coast of the US and the Canadian maritime, gradually spreading laterally, forming a clockwise gyre over the N Atlantic, turning south past southern Europe to reach Africa, then turning west towards the Caribbean to complete the circuit. But there is also a counter-current to the Gulf Stream, the Labrador Current flowing south out of the Canadian arctic/Greenland. Where the Gulf Stream is a warm, surface current, the Labrador is cold, high salinity water making it much denser so that it flows much deeper. Together, the two currents act in concert, without interference and constitute what we called the North Atlantic Conveyor. But, what might happen if the Labrador Current became much less salty through infusion of fresh water and thus less dense? It would flow at a shallower depth, perhaps even at the surface. And if that happened, the two great water currents would interfere. Perhaps stop flowing in the normal pattern, altogether? To my knowledge, that question was never resolved.
You have so much information in your head and yet the size of your head is still normal. Amazing!!! 😀
The important question isn't whether "the gulf stream will stop". The important question is whether AGW (anthropogenic global warming) will cause changes to the ocean currents which will bring about a major temperature drop to northern Europe. And the answer to that question is a very strong "YES".
Ms. Hossenfelder's statement at 0:27 and the explanation about the AMOC which follows 10 minutes later, unfortunately, does very little to clarify that this is indeed the case. Basically all she does in this video is to correct people on the names of 2 ocean currents.
Another _major_ flaw in this video is her complete failure to discuss the consequences of a melting of the Greenland ice sheet, a phenomenon that has already begun. It will have consequences far beyond a major rise in sea level. The influx of fresh water into the ocean will disrupt ocean ecosystems and our food supplies that come from those ecosystems. The influx of cold water will also speed up the process of the slowing down, and possibly complete stoppage of the thermohaline current.
I give this video a B-. Everything she says in it is correct. But by presenting only a portion of the material and leaving out very important parts, some people are likely to come to the completely wrong conclusion.