In our last blog post, you learned that thermohaline circulation, a special type of ocean circulation that drives the Gulf Stream current, is turning into one giant sleepy tortoise. In other words, it is slowing down big time, and climate change is the culprit. How do we know the Gulf Stream is slowing down? Scientists have been measuring the speed of the current over time through a process known as long-term monitoring. Recently, a team of scientists from the National Oceanography Centre in the United Kingdom (Britain) have been tracking the speed of the current by setting up a system that monitors ocean flow with moored instruments (instruments anchored to the seabed far below the surface of the ocean), rather than the ship-based measurements that have been used in the past. The scientists hope to get more exact measurements from these 22 monitors, which are attached to the floor of the Atlantic Ocean by cables up to 5000 metres long! The monitors are measuring ocean temperature, salinity (salt levels), speed, and pressure. So far, the group’s research has shown a 30% decrease in the speed of the Gulf Stream and this spells trouble!! If this keeps up, scientists believe that temperatures in Europe will fall several degrees within the next 20 years!

So, we’re bright human beings that are able to solve a lot of the world’s problems. How are we going to tackle this one? Well, it turns out that scientists are already on the case! And next time we’re going to look at one possible solution that will cost billions of dollars, but just might work—making new sea ice with good, old-fashioned human ingenuity! Now that’s cool stuff!