Forget Global Warming, A New Ice Age Might Be Brewing

Climate change is wild

(By Ittiz — Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9237442)

While everyone has been concerned about global warming, people might instead want to stock up on warmer clothing, especially people living in Northern Europe and Canada. A new study suggests that global warming might naturally precede the formation of a new Ice Age. Mohamed Ezat, a paleoceanographer at The Arctic University of Norway, heads the study, which claims that warming temperatures could eventually lead to colder weather. That sounds counterintuitive, but the study hinges on the behavior and health of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

The AMOC has been described as a conveyor belt that transports warm water and air from the equator northward to the seas around places like England and Norway. This current system is responsible for the relatively mild weather experienced in places like Great Britain.

If you look at a map, London is much farther north than people realize. London is on the same latitude as Winnipeg, Canada. You can see the effects of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation by looking at temperature data. Winnipeg has an average high of just 34 F in November and 19 F in December. Conversely, London has an average high of 53 F in November and 49 F in December. That constitutes a twenty to thirty degree temperature…