Superstorms, drastic climate change, and New York frozen in ice. This is how the Hollywood blockbuster "The Day After Tomorrow" depicted the sudden cessation of Atlantic Ocean circulation and the catastrophic consequences.

While Hollywood's vision was overblown, the 2004 film raised a serious question: If global warming stops the Atlantic meridian circulation, which is crucial for the transfer of heat from the tropics to the northern latitudes, how sudden and severe would the climate change be?

Twenty years after the film's release, we know much more about the circulation in the Atlantic Ocean. Instruments deployed in the ocean since 2004 show that the circulation of the Atlantic Ocean over the last two decades  noticeably slowed down , maybe on the weakest state in almost a millennium Studies also suggest that circulation reached its peak in the past. dangerous tipping point , which sent it into a sharp and unstoppable decline, and that it could hit this tipping point again as the planet warms and glaciers and ice sheets melt. (by René van Westen, Henk A. Dijkstra and Michael Kliphuis The Conversation, more at phys.org)