Overheating oceans: Have we reached a climate tipping point?

[OKIsItJustMe]

https://www.earth.com/news/oceans-in-crisis-have-we-reached-a-climate-tipping-point/

Overheating oceans: Have we reached a climate tipping point?
By Sanjana Gajbhiye
Earth.com staff writer

The oceans did not behave normally in 2023. They got too hot, stayed hot too long, and covered almost the entire planet with heat. It wasn’t just a spike in temperature. Scientists think this might be the start of something bigger – a change in how Earth’s climate works.

…

Signs of a climate tipping point
“The 2023 MHWs may mark a fundamental shift in ocean-atmosphere dynamics, potentially serving as an early warning of an approaching tipping point in Earth’s climate system,” wrote the study authors.

A climate tipping point means crossing a threshold where the system can’t recover on its own. For the oceans, that could lead to more frequent heatwaves, collapsing food webs, and dwindling fish populations.

And the impact won’t stay confined to the sea. Warmer oceans hold less oxygen, disrupt the exchange of heat and moisture with the atmosphere, and help drive extreme weather – affecting everything from storms and rainfall to droughts on land.

…

Tianyun Dong et al. , Record-breaking 2023 marine heatwaves. Science 389, 369-374 (2025). DOI:10.1126/science.adr0910

[MrWowWow]

1. Isn't This Cyclic like Not?

Last edited Mon Jul 28, 2025, 02:06 AM - Edit history (1)

Both AMOC and SMOC are slowing down.

AMOC (Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation)

Heat Storage Pattern Linked to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Slowdown (AGU/GRL)
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025GL116801

Continued Atlantic overturning circulation even under climate extremes (Nature, CMIP6 study)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08544-0

Atlantic Ocean current expected to undergo limited weakening (University of Washington / Nature Geoscience)
https://www.washington.edu/news/2025/05/30/atlantic-ocean-current-expected-to-undergo-limited-weakening-with-climate-change-study-finds/

Critical ocean current has not declined in the last 60 years (ScienceDaily / WHOI press release)
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/06/250620222140.htm

Computer simulations show nightmare Atlantic current shutdown less likely this century (AP News)
https://apnews.com/article/113045605001da12127166e1b562f4c0



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SMOC (South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation)

South Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and its respective transports at 34.5 °S (Frontiers in Marine Science)
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/marine-science/articles/10.3389/fmars.2024.1474133/full


Strange how tone deaf the responses to my question are. It's OK. Nature bats last. That's the best part.
.

https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCyerZPyOwZdwRQtV66L6VTA

[Skittles]

2. yeah, used to be

but the ACCELERATION is man-made

https://climatecosmos.com/interviews-and-opinions/what-if-global-warming-is-just-part-of-a-natural-earth-cycle/

[OKIsItJustMe]

4. When there are contradictory studies give extra credence to the most recent ones

That’s the way “Science” works. It’s a constant process of refinement, as more data are gathered, and we learn more about the topic…

There are natural climate cycles of course. A good example is “Ice Ages.” At one point, these weren’t even believed to exist, then they were a mystery. A theory was put forward, and largely rejected, then accepted.

Ice ages, seem to have been triggered in the past few hundred millennia by small variations in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun. (See “Milkanovitch Cycles.”) So, dramatic climate change is normal and cyclical. Right? So, while inconvenient, the current warming is simply part of a natural cycle.

Except, the current warming does not fit into the pattern of Milankovitch Cycles.
https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/milankovitch-orbital-cycles-and-their-role-in-earths-climate/
https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2949/why-milankovitch-orbital-cycles-cant-explain-earths-current-warming/

The lesson to be learned here is that even very subtle changes (like small, cyclic changes in Earth’s motion) may kick off dramatic climate changes.

However, we, by burning increasing amounts of “fossil fuels” are kicking off much more rapid climate change than the natural cycle.

[surfered]

3. I think we've tipped,