The Impending AMOC Collapse

A look at the ocean current which our global ecosystem relies on

Some of y’all may have seen the new article about the impending AMOC collapse, and I’m here to explain what’s going on here.

Ice Floats

Solids are generally denser than liquids because they’re low-energy versions of the same material, so they settle down, collapse into a lil pile instead of sloshing around. Denser materials sink, and less dense materials rise, as Archimedes pointed out 2,400 years ago. So what’s the deal?

Well, first of all, read “Cat’s Cradle” by Kurt Vonnegut. Trust.

Anyways, when water molecules solidify they form a crystalline structure. Crystals are solid matter that arranges in an ordered, repeated pattern, like puzzle pieces that only fit one way, and all the puzzle pieces are the same, creating a consistent shape. For water, this structure locks them into a pattern that spaces them out more than when they’re a liquid.

Sticking with our puzzle example, the completed puzzle cannot fit in the original box. Once it’s locked into place, it can’t be compressed down enough. There’s only ONE way the puzzle can be correct, and it has a certain width and a certain length, and they are more than the width/height of the box.

Like that.

But What About Salt Water?

Adding salt changes the whole deal - Instead of being cold fresh water, which rises as it draws closer to icehood, it is cold salt water, which has higher density and a lower freezing point. It sinks.

So in the ocean, as water gets further North, it gets colder, which causes it to SINK. If it was fresh water, it would instead RISE.

Because of salt, water behaves itself for once. The bobbing of water up-and-down as it cools and heats creates AMOC, a global ocean current that distributes salt and heat from the equator to the North. This current keeps England from feeling like Siberia. Without the AMOC, Europe would simply not support anywhere near its current population.

The Problem

Arctic Ice is made of fresh water. That’s why it’s ice, and floating. But, because the planet is getting warmer, polar ice caps are melting. This means fresh water is leaking into the northern point of the AMOC, making it less salty.

And with less salt, the cold slushy water does not sink as far.

Which slows the bobbing motion.

Which slows the current.

Which slows the distribution of salt to the North.

Which adds to the problem of less salt in the Northern cold part of the AMOC.

Eventually the whole thing collapses, having catastrophic consequences for the entire planet. And once it stops, it’s not something we can just start up again.

The fossil fuel industry and the politicians they have purchased are choosing a future of pain, mass death, and starvation for humanity’s future. And they are doing it for money.

This is one of countless ways we are hurdling towards apocalypse. It is too late to prevent. But it doesn’t have to get one day worse.

There’s only one path forward - We have to get OFF of fossil fuels. It will be difficult. It will be expensive. But it will never be cheaper or easier than it is today.

Whether we do it or not isn’t a choice. So let’s do it right now.

It’s not that simple bro

Yeah, I know, I just bought a car. The society we live in isn’t one where individuals can opt-out of fossil fuels. The only path forward is to change the system. We can’t individual-choice our way out of this.

The question cannot be “how do I reduce my individual carbon footprint?” because “carbon footprints”, like “littering”, was invented by the fossil fuel industry to prevent us from stopping them from killing us.

The question needs to be “how do we, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, change the system we live in into one that stops spinning off apocalypse scenarios? How do we, AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, strip these people of their power and influence and end the use of fossil fuels?”

What will it take?

The first step is the same as to all of our problems: Humans have to start talking about it. In person. With our local communities. Outside of the supervision of the Oligarchs who got us here and the tools they’ve made to replace human connection.

We can do it, but the only way out is through.