Climate Science: Mysterious 'cold blob' in the Atlantic is a sign of the Gulf Stream weakening

As a scientist (now retired) it's maddening to see that news outlets rarely report science findings, especially those that are relevant to our rapidly changing climate. Unfortunately, the current state of the country doesn't believe in science, sadly. But there are those of us who DO, and a recent finding appears to be a harbinger of change for a large area of the Northern Hemisphere and Atlantic Ocean. Here's the story.

(Image: Aqua satellite image of the North Atlantic Ocean on June 10, 2026. Credit: NASA) 

Mysterious 'cold blob' in the Atlantic is a sign of the Gulf Stream weakening — and that's bad news for the US East Coast 

The Atlantic's enigmatic "cold blob" has once again been linked to a weakening of key ocean currents and a devastating climate tipping point.

Patrick Pester, Live Science, June 10, 2026

A mysterious "cold blob" in the Atlantic Ocean is a sign that key ocean currents are weakening, a new study has found, with potentially devastating long-term impacts on our climate and weather.

The cold blob, or North Atlantic Warming Hole, is an area south of Greenland and Iceland where average sea surface temperatures have actually been going down. Researchers have been working to understand the blob for years, given that it bucks the global trend of Earth getting warmer.

The new research, published May 28 in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, supports previous interpretations that the blob's existence points to a weakening of ocean currents known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC).

The AMOC maintains Europe's relatively mild temperatures, particularly in winter, and helps regulate climate across Europe, Africa and America. Researchers have warned that a weakening AMOC has serious environmental consequences, with its collapse considered a major potential tipping point, or key threshold within Earth's systems, beyond which substantial and irreversible environmental change will occur.

WHAT IT MEANS -  Scientists are uncertain about the rate at which the AMOC is weakening, with one recent study projecting that it will slow down by around 50% by 2100. If the AMOC were to collapse completely, temperatures in parts of the Northern Hemisphere could plummet by some 18 to 27 degrees Fahrenheit (10 to 15 degrees Celsius), extreme droughts would be unleashed in southern Europe, and the sea level would rise along the northeastern coastline of North America.

"Given the well-established existence of a tipping point of the AMOC, as well as recent studies finding a range of different "early warning signals" of the ocean circulation approaching such a tipping point, the strong evidence for a weakening AMOC is a serious concern for society and policy," the authors of the new study wrote in the study.

The AMOC acts like a conveyor belt, carrying water, nutrients, and absorbed carbon dioxide from the tropics northward. This warm water heats up the atmosphere, with westerly winds then carrying the resulting warm air towards land, keeping Europe relatively mild.

"Our analysis supports the interpretation of the observed "cold blob" as a sign of a weakening AMOC," the authors wrote.

There are still uncertainties surrounding the cold blob and the weakening AMOC, with work ongoing to better understand these phenomena. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is set to remove 900 deep-sea monitoring instruments from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which include sensors that would have kept tabs on the AMOC.

Key Atlantic ocean current is much closer to collapse than scientists thought

 Here's a very concerning finding- that the Gulf stream current that transports warmth from the Gulf of Mexico north along the U.S. East coast and over to Eastern Europe is weakening at a faster rate than suspected. That current is what keeps the U.S. East coast and eastern Europe temperate in the winter, and keeps sea levels down along the U.S. East Coast. Today's blog shares the new findings.. 

(Ocean flows colored with sea surface temperature data, yellow is the warmer waters of the Gulf stream. Credit: NASA Goddard/SVS) 

'Nations need to prepare now': Key Atlantic ocean current is much closer to collapse than scientists thought

LIVE SCIENCE, April 2026 

Atlantic Ocean currents that are vital for keeping Earth's climate in check will halve in strength by 2100 and may be closer to collapse than first thought, a new study finds.

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) acts as an oceanic conveyor belt, circulating warm water north from the tropics and cold water south. This regulates climates across Europe, Africa and America while also sustaining aquatic life.

Now, a study estimates the AMOC will slow down between 43% and 59% by 2100 — a 60% stronger weakening than past models predicted. The research corrects for biases in previous estimates by including the temperature and saltiness of the Atlantic Ocean's surface, according to the study published Wednesday (April 15) in the journal Science Advances.

This "more substantial AMOC weakening" means that a critical planetary system is closer to a tipping point — an irreversible "point of no return" for the climate — than many past models suggest, the authors wrote in the study.

However, other experts note that the predicted magnitude and speed of an AMOC slowdown varies greatly from study to study.

"In my opinion there is a need to interpret new results for each study into a wider context," María Paz Chidichimo, an expert on ocean circulation at the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and National University of San Martín in Buenos Aires, Argentina, told Live Science in an email.

"Studies predict AMOC decline on a range from small decline to large decline, but I think the magnitude and timing of AMOC decline are still uncertain given the large spread in model projections," she added.

Laura Jackson, an expert in North Atlantic ocean currents at the Met Office in the U.K., agreed. "It is still an open question as to which model AMOC projections are most likely," she told Live Science in an email.

(Animation: Ocean flows colored with sea surface temperature data, the yellow indicates the warm waters of the Gulf stream and how they flow up the U.S. East coast and over to eastern Europe. Credit: NASA Goddard / SVS) 

Catastrophic collapse 

An AMOC collapse would last for hundreds to thousands of years and have catastrophic consequences. It would send temperatures in northern Europe plummeting while southern Europe experiences extreme droughts. The sea level would rise along the northeast coast of North America. Disruption would spread across food webs and ecosystems in the ocean and on land — for example, the amount of land available for growing wheat and maize, which supply two-fifths of global calories, would be cut by more than half.

Modeling the AMOC slowdown 

Observations reveal that the AMOC has weakened compared with its 1850 to 1900 baseline. Previous research has attempted to estimate the strength and pace of the AMOC slowdown, with some studies finding minimal weakening by the end of the century while others predict an imminent collapse.

The predicted AMOC is "so weak that it is then very likely on the way to full shutdown," Stefan Rahmstorf, a professor of ocean physics who heads the Earth system analysis department at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, told Live Science in an email.

Even so, experts told Live Science that AMOC model estimates are largely driven by which variables are included in the analyses, so results can vary. And although the new study corrects for previous biases, there "remains uncertainty in how well models can simulate and predict changes in the AMOC," Thornalley said.

Focusing too heavily on an AMOC collapse may not be the most helpful path forward, Chidichimo said. "We have enough scientific evidence of AMOC variability and slowdown, and we are already experiencing environmental changes associated with AMOC change which have important socioeconomic impacts worldwide," she said. "Nations need to prepare now."