{"id":390881,"date":"2026-07-08T18:02:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/390881\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T18:02:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:02:13","slug":"slowing-atlantic-current-fueling-stronger-california-storms-ucr-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/390881\/","title":{"rendered":"Slowing Atlantic current fueling stronger California storms | UCR News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A slowing Atlantic Ocean current is projected to intensify powerful storms in California while reducing snowfall over Greenland, according to a new University of California, Riverside study.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Atmospheric<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Atmospheric river forming near the West Coast of the U.S. (NASA)<\/p>\n

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC, works like a giant conveyor belt in the ocean, moving warm water from the tropics northward to heat places like Europe, then cycling the cooled, denser water back south along the ocean floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is well known that the AMOC is a big player in the world\u2019s climate system, and that it is slowing down. What we didn\u2019t know is exactly how the AMOC might impact atmospheric moisture and storms outside the Atlantic region,\u201d said Mohima Mimi, a UCR doctoral student in climate dynamics and the paper\u2019s lead author.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt turns out a weakening AMOC will strengthen storms across parts of North America by the end of the century, along the California coast in particular, while reducing them over Greenland and the Arctic.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study<\/a> in Nature Communications found that as the AMOC slows, changes in ocean temperatures affect the amount of moisture the atmosphere can hold and strengthen high-altitude winds that steer storms across the Northern Hemisphere. Stronger winds allow storms to transport more moisture toward the West Coast, creating atmospheric rivers.<\/p>\n

These rivers are long, narrow corridors of water vapor carrying moisture from the tropics to higher latitudes. \u201cIn California, atmospheric rivers are a double-edged sword,\u201d Mimi said. \u201cThey supply much of the state\u2019s water supply, but as they become stronger, they\u2019re likely to also bring widespread destruction.\u201d<\/p>\n

The modeling study also projects an increase in atmospheric rivers along the eastern coast of South America and around Antarctica, while showing that fewer storms in Greenland will reduce snowfall and the accumulation of ice there.<\/p>\n

The changes projected by the study occur under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario in which the AMOC continues to weaken throughout the century.\u00a0Scientists have observed that the AMOC is slowing as human-caused climate change warms the planet, and climate models project that trend will continue if greenhouse gas emissions remain high.<\/p>\n

Greenhouse gasses are primarily produced by burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas, as well as methane from livestock such as cattle, deforestation, industrial processes, and waste, including landfills. According to Wei Liu, associate professor of climate change and the paper\u2019s senior author, reducing emissions from these sources can lessen the impacts on the AMOC and its intensifying influence on rainfall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although stronger atmospheric rivers increase flood risk and damage to infrastructure, they could also create opportunities to capture more water if communities expand storage capacity and improve forecasting.<\/p>\n

The findings underscore how closely connected Earth\u2019s climate system is. A change in a single ocean current can reshape rainfall patterns and extreme weather thousands of miles away, influencing water resources, ecosystems, and communities across multiple continents.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis research shows that the effects of the AMOC extend far beyond the Atlantic Ocean,\u201d Mimi said. \u201cUnderstanding these connections will help us better prepare for future changes in water resources and extreme weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

(Atmospheric river cover image:\u00a0FrankRamspott\/NASA\/NOAA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A slowing Atlantic Ocean current is projected to intensify powerful storms in California while reducing snowfall over Greenland,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-390881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}