Scientists have a new theory about the air-conditioning system of the Earth.

Climate change (Global Warming) is one of the biggest worries of humanity these days as it is literally endangering the future of our species. Ironically, humans themselves have contributed the most in bringing these changes in climate. Experts from all parts of the world are looking for a variety of ways to control this situation. They try to understand the climate of past through observations and predict what will happen in the future on the basis of different theoretical models. A climate record has been gathered which is updated continuously to incorporate the latest changes.

All the activities, both natural and human-induced, are causing serious damage to our planet. Some of the natural disasters that lead to global warming are volcanic eruptions, solar radiations, and plate tectonics. On the other hand, the increase in the levels of Carbon Dioxide is the most destructive anthropogenic factor. The combustion of fossil fuels has played the most critical role in causing this harm. Deforestation is another factor that needs equal importance because the consumption of Carbon Dioxide must compete with its generation. According to a unanimous consensus of scientists, the climate is changing and that these are in large part caused by human activities and it is mostly irreversible. In these circumstances, we need to react instantly if we want to save our home for our coming generations.

Global Warming Pause refers to a state where there is a relatively little change in globally averaged surface temperatures over a period of time. According to a claim that attracted significant amount of publicity, Earth experienced such a pause for 15 years from 1998 to 2013. There have been quite a lot of different theories to explain this pause but a new study has presented the most disturbing one till date. Previous beliefs were more in-sync with the plot of a 2004 movie called ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ but the paper published in the journal ‘Nature’ says that things are not like that in our world.

The disaster flick, mentioned above, showed the world that increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have paradoxical effect. These gases initiates a sudden giant ice age instead of heating the planet up. Most of the story was fictional but it had a massive truth right at its core. The movie presented an idea where water from melting glaciers entered the Atlantic Ocean. The warm water of the ocean was displaced due to which the warming effect on the northern latitude weakened. As a result, the continents of Europe and North America started experiencing extremely cold winters.

The plot of the movie revolved around an air-conditioning system of the Earth, which reacted in a paradoxical way to the climate change, and it really does exist. The name given to it is AMOC, which is an abbreviation of Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. It is actually a massive, looping current that carries cold water southwards along a deeper undersea route and transfers warm water in the direction of North Atlantic. This is the primary reason why Europe is suitable for habitation as most of the population centers of the continent are much higher than what we have in Asia and North America.

The researching team examined the behavior of the AMOC over a period of several decades and compared it with the trends of climate change of that period. They found that AMOC was relatively weaker between 1975 and 1998 in comparison to the next 15 years. They noticed that the temperature of the planet didn’t go down during this duration. The strength of the AMOC was revived to quite an extent when the surface temperature of the Earth started to increase in 2004. Since then, the strength of the Earth’s air-conditioning system is on a continuous decline. An interesting thing is that the world has experienced 9 out of the 10 hottest years during this phase.

According to the researchers, the increment in the heat of the world has changed the role of the AMOC. They believe that it might cool the overall surface of the Earth instead of warming the northern latitudes. AMOC pulls more heat when it is strong and that could be the reason why we didn’t experience the effects of the climate change during the years of the Global Warming Pause. Contrary to that, this balance breaks down with the strength of the AMOC which increases global temperatures by many times. Although, it is a positive step in an effort to explain the strange climate of the Earth in the last several decades, this theory shouldn’t be taken as a definitive prediction.