Currents on the water surface are reflected in the backlight. (symbol image)Image: KEYSTONE
As the world’s oceans warm, an area in the North Atlantic is getting colder – posing risks to the global climate.
June 13, 2026, 7:07 p.mJune 13, 2026, 7:07 p.m
South of Greenland and Iceland lies a sea area that has been behaving contrary to the global trend for decades: While the world’s oceans are warming overall, this so-called “cold spot” has become almost one degree Celsius colder since 1900. Now one delivers new study a disturbing explanation to it.
For a long time it was unclear whether atmospheric influences such as changing winds and clouds were responsible for the anomaly. Now research published in the journal American Geophysical Union shows that cooling is taking place not only on the surface, but also in the depths of the ocean.
An indication that atmospheric factors alone are not enough to explain the phenomenon. Instead, all signs point to a weakening of the so-called Atlantic Overturning Circulation (AMOC).
The oceanic conveyor belt
The AMOC works like a kind of oceanic conveyor belt: It transports warm water from the tropics to the north and cold water back to the south. This conveyor belt ensures that Europe remains mild and the global climate is in balance.
Global warming is melting ice, which is why more and more fresh water is entering the ocean, disrupting the delicate balance of the current. “It changes the oceanic heat transport,” explains study author Stefan Rahmstorf from the University of Potsdam – with the cold spot as a visible result.
According to the study, a collapse of the AMOC would have dramatic consequences: greater sea level rise on the US east coast, extreme cold waves in Europe and devastating droughts in Africa. Such a tipping point could be reached this century.
Opposite the US news portal CNN Independent experts urge caution: the available data sets are “more good approximations than perfect reflections of reality,” says David Thornally from University College London. And Jonathan Baker from the British meteorological service Met Office emphasizes that the study provides further evidence, but does not yet conclusively clarify the question.