In recent days, several media outlets such as Le Monde, Libération, L’Express, TF1 info et Radio France have highlighted Didier Swingedouw’s work on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).
©Mission PALEO : Johan Etourneau
In these interviews, he discusses the importance of better anticipating the risks associated with this North Atlantic current system, which is essential to the European climate.
He explains that the AMOC influences major phenomena such as the monsoon in West Africa and is one of the determining factors in the climate of Northern and Western Europe. If this system slows down or collapses, Northern Europe could experience localised cooling. Models show that this is possible before 2100, perhaps as early as 2040, making research into these phenomena crucial.
Didier Swingedouw points out that it is essential to ‘do everything possible to avoid this phenomenon’ by limiting global warming in accordance with the Paris Agreements. But we must also study what would happen if it did occur.
‘The AMOC is not going to save us; in fact, it’s more of a problem, because it will add instability to a climate that we don’t yet know exactly how to adapt to,’ warns Didier Swingedouw.
The only solution to try to limit its effects is to drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions in order to limit the potential slowdown in ocean circulation and keep the rise in temperatures below the 2°C threshold set by the Paris Agreement.
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Informations EPOC – january 2025