Bering Strait influences climate conditions

Abstract

The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) acts as a heat conveyer belt, bringing warm tropical water northward in the Atlantic Ocean and carrying cold dense water back southward. Some studies have suggested that changes in AMOC could result in seesaw‐like climate changes between the North Atlantic and North Pacific, in which the North Pacific warms while the North Atlantic cools. In fact, paleoclimate studies have found that such a seesaw effect may have occurred during the Heinrich 1 (H1) event about 15–17.5 thousand years ago. However, global climate conditions are much warmer today than they were during the H1 event. Sea level was much lower during the H1 event, and the Bering Strait, which now connects the North Pacific Ocean to the Arctic Ocean, was closed. Some studies have suggested that AMOC could weaken or even collapse entirely as global climate warms because of anthropogenic influence. Would such AMOC changes lead to the seesaw effect seen during the H1 event?