Impending Global Ramifications as Gulf Stream Weakens and Approaches Shore

A new study confirms that the Gulf Stream, a crucial ocean current that transports heat and regulates sea levels, is weakening. Over the past four decades, the flow of warm water through the Florida Straits has slowed by 4%, with potential grave implications for global climate. The Gulf Stream is part of the thermohaline circulation, a global conveyor belt of ocean currents that helps control sea levels and hurricane activity. As Earth's climate warms, the influx of cold, fresh water from melting ice sheets could further disrupt the Gulf Stream. Scientists will need to differentiate between natural variability and the impact of global heating to definitively prove climate change's role in the weakening of the current.