Thermohaline circulation and ocean conveyor belt
Circulación termohalina y cinta transportadora oceánica
- Date
- 1797 / 1961 · confidence medium
- Place
- Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, United States
- Credited to
- Benjamin Thompson (Rumford, 1797, hypothesis), Henry Stommel (1961, model), Wallace Broecker (1987, 'conveyor belt')
- People
- 👤 Henry Stommel1920–1992👤 Wallace Smith Broecker1931–2019
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
What was discovered
The sinking of cold, salty water in the North Atlantic and Antarctica drives a global circulation that redistributes heat and carbon. Stommel modelled its stable states and Broecker showed that its collapse could explain abrupt climate change.
Coordinates of Woods Hole, where Stommel worked. The concept was built up over two centuries.
What it led to
- Understanding of Europe's climate and the Dansgaard-Oeschger events
- Concern over the weakening of the AMOC
- Coupled ocean-atmosphere climate models
Built on
- Gulf Stream1513 / 1770
- Challenger expedition: birth of oceanography1872-1876
- Challenger expedition (abyssal temperatures)
Made possible
- Argo programme of ocean floats2000 (primeros flotadores en 1999; red completa en 2007)
- Argo floats
- Ocean tracers (CFCs, carbon-14)