While scientists already know about the unusual pace of warming in the region, computer models, which try to simulate the forces at work, have so far failed to reproduce the pattern. Because the northwest Atlantic is warming in part due to the AMOC slowdown, this is accelerating heating of cities such Boston, Providence, R.I., and New York. The study shows that the NAO has for the past few decades tended to settle into a pattern that enhances the flow of ocean air toward the eastern seaboard. There is a degree of natural variability to the NAO, which influences storm tracks, the jet stream and seasonal temperatures in the Northeast. ![]() One link between the AMOC and rising temperatures along the coast is the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), a cyclic weather phenomenon that governs the strength and position of the winds that blow from the United States over the Atlantic and on to Europe. This helps explain spikes in ocean temperatures in the Mid-Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Maine regions, say the authors. One consequence is even more heating of the ocean off the Northeast coast. But as climate warms, and glaciers in Greenland melt and send fresh water into the ocean, the conveyor is stalling. This cooled water then flows back south in the form of deep-water currents. The AMOC is a sort of conveyor belt that transports warm, salty water from the tropics north toward Greenland, where it cools and sinks. But beyond that, several recent studies indicate that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), a system of long-distance Atlantic currents, is slowing down due to climate change. ![]() Ocean waters around the world are warming, and thus helping fuel warming on land. ![]() Here, lower Manhattan under a summer sky. Rising Atlantic Ocean temperatures and altered wind patterns that blow the warmth toward land are helping heat the U.S.
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