https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/12/climate/cold-blob-atlantic-amoc-ocean-circula...12th June 2026
A mysterious ‘cold blob’ in the ocean has puzzled scientists. A new study says it’s an ominous sign
The “cold blob” appears in a data visualization showing average temperatures in 2015, relative to the 1951-80 average NASA Scientific Visualization Studio/Goddard Space Flight Center.
In the North Atlantic Ocean, south of Greenland and Iceland, a large patch of water is doing something very strange. While the rest of the ocean heats up, it’s been getting colder. A new study says it has the answer to this mystery — and it’s an ominous sign the world is hurtling toward one of the most alarming climate tipping points.
The swath of ocean — dubbed the “cold blob” or “warming hole” — has cooled by nearly 1 degree Celsius (1.8 Fahrenheit) since 1900.
Scientists have long debated whether this anomaly is driven by heat loss from the ocean surface due to changes to winds and clouds, or whether it’s a signal of the weakening of a critical system of ocean currents, which transports heat. The new research concludes it’s the latter, and the finding points to a worrying future.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC,
works like a vast ocean conveyor belt, pulling warm water from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere, where it cools, sinks and flows back south.
A raft of research suggests this system is weakening as human-driven global warming melts ice and causes a surge of freshwater into the ocean, disrupting the AMOC’s delicate balance of heat and salinity. Some scientists warn the AMOC is heading toward a tipping point, potentially as early at this century, which would mean a future collapse is locked in.
An AMOC shutdown would be a global catastrophe,
causing accelerated sea level rise on the US East Coast,
plunging Europe into a winter deep freeze and shifting the monsoon in Africa,
driving prolonged droughts.
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