Climate change affects not only sea levels, but also ocean currents – for example, the Gulf Stream. It brings warm water from the American continent across the Atlantic to Europe, ensuring a milder climate there. However, according to a study by the University of Copenhagen, the Gulf Stream could collapse before the end of this century due to rising temperatures. This would cause a drastic cooling in Europe and would have serious consequences for the global climate. However, experts doubt the results. The Gulf Stream is an ocean current of superlatives. It transports more water than all the rivers in the world combined and is part of what is known as the Atlantic Overturning Circulation (AMOC). The AMOC is considered a climate tipping point. If the circulation were to collapse, it would have serious and irreversible effects on the global climate. Because as humans warm the atmosphere with their CO2 emissions, the Greenland ice sheet melts. This brings large amounts of fresh water into the Atlantic. This, in turn, disrupts the balance of heat and salinity that keeps the AMOC circulation going. According to models, a complete drying out could result in a temperature drop of 5 to 10 degrees Celsius.