The tropical regions around the globe are among the most rainy areas on earth. However, this paradise could change drastically due to climate change. A key flow in the Atlantic, the Atlantic Meridional Umwärzflow (AMOC), plays a crucial role in this. For the first time, researchers provide indications that their decreasing could lead to extreme droughts in many tropical regions.
Sea currents transport warmth and nutrients around the earth and are therefore a central pillar of the global climate system. The Atlantic meridional circulation flow (AMOC), a huge system of sea currents, which brings warm, salt -rich water out of the tropics into the North Atlantic as a kind of gigantic conveyor belt. This circulation not only affects the climate in Europe, but also keeps the tropical rainy girdle close to the equator. At least still, because climate change ensures melting polar ice and more precipitation on the ocean, which in turn could reduce the density of the surface water and slow down the current
