FALMOUTH – Researchers including scientists with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution said that the Gulf Stream is weakening, which they add could lead to significant changes for weather in general.
They determined in conjunction with the University of Miami that the Gulf Stream’s transport capacity has decreased by about 4 percent in the last 4 decades. They added that it is 99 percent certain to not be random chance.
The Gulf Stream carries warm water northbound up the nation’s eastern coastline, including to the waters just off the coast of Cape Cod. It is also a critical transporter of carbon and other ocean constituents.
“This is the strongest, most definitive evidence we have of the weakening of this climatically-relevant ocean current,” said lead author Chris Piecuch, a physical oceanographer with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
The exchange of warm water impacts precipitation, sea level rise, hurricane activity and more for the region.
While the study does confirm the change in the Gulf Stream, it does not identify whether climate change or natural factors are the cause. They add future studies should focus on potential causes.
The full journal article published in Geophysical Research Letters can be found here. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA.
About Grady Culhane
