Feng He explained that it’s not too unexpected that the rapid loss from the Greenland ice sheet since 1990s has not affected the North Atlantic ocean circulation so far. The amount of freshwater from the edge calving is modest (42 gigatons per year) compared with total flow (about 221 gigatons per year). Computer models agree that adding relatively small amounts of freshwater, even if this amount is doubled, will only have a small effect on Atlantic Ocean circulation in the near future. But because our understanding of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation is still nascent due to the limited direct observations, it’s a possibility that small and steady increase of the Greenland melting might push the AMOC into a collapsed state.
Read the full article at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2024/01/17/greenland-ice-sheet-sea-level-rise/