Official URL: https://easac.eu/publications/details/a-sea-of-cha...

EASAC – the European Academies' Science Advisory Council – is formed by the national science academies of the EU Member States to enable them to collaborate with each other in giving advice to European policy-makers. Through EASAC, the academies work together to provide independent, expert, evidence-based advice about the scientific aspects of public policy to those who make or influence policy within the European institutions. In this report, we describe the underlying processes and trends in the Atlantic, and the ways in which the state of the ocean – currents, winds, waves and ocean mixing – impact Europe’s climate, marine environment and resources. The report describes the underlying processes and trends in the Atlantic, and the ways in which the state of the ocean – currents, winds, waves and ocean mixing – impact Europe’s climate, marine environment and resources. A dominant influence is the global thermohaline circulation which includes the Atlantic Ocean currents that transport heat and salt into northern latitudes via the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic Drift, with colder and denser waters returning south at depth; this is the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Superimposed on this are patterns of variability in both the atmosphere (the North Atlantic Oscillation) and the ocean (the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability). Palaeoclimatic records show that changes in these basic processes may have substantial local and global effects on climate and on marine and coastal ecosystems.