Reuters · October 14, 2026

Danish Study Finds Atlantic Current System Could Recover if Warming Is Reversed

• A study by the Danish Meteorological Institute, published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, found no sign of an irreversible tipping point for the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation in its model, according to the report.
• The circulation brings warm water from the tropics northward toward the Arctic and helps keep Europe's winters mild, according to the report.
• The study said the circulation could slow to about 6 million cubic metres of water per second from around 17 million at around 7 degrees Celsius of global warming, according to the report.
• Lead author Chuncheng Guo said the model found the circulation gradually weakens and regains strength if global warming is reversed, but that recovery could take several centuries, according to the report.
• The study said the Greenland ice sheet, which contributes to weakening the circulation as it melts, could not be restored once melted even if warming was reversed, and estimated long-term sea-level rise of around 20 cm from that melting following a 1.5 C rise, according to the report.
• Guo said the cooling rate required to reverse the weakening exceeds what is considered realistic with current technology, and that further testing against other models was needed for the single-model study, according to the report. Willem Huiskamp of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, who was not involved in the study, said he doubted the real-world current was as stable as some models suggested, according to the report.

Study findings via the Danish Meteorological Institute and Science Advances, as cited in the original report. An independent response from Willem Huiskamp is documented in the source, as stated above. This card is based on the accessible portion only. Original headline: "Atlantic Ocean currents can recover from severe climate weakening, study finds".