About
Atlantic overturning in plain language — for internal review and sharing.
What this version includes
Every panel on the dashboard is finished. Nothing on the main page is a placeholder.
- RAPID transport — annual overturning at 26.5°N from the published BODC time series (through 2022), with trend and chart.
- North Atlantic SST fingerprint — proxy from NOAA’s AMV index, refreshed from NOAA when available, shown as KPI and schematic map.
- OSNAP subpolar — published mean overturning from the OSNAP array (manual refresh when releases update).
- Recent papers — OpenAlex search filtered to AMOC-related titles.
- IPCC AR6 — short summary line for context (static text, not a live IPCC feed).
Not in this version (and why)
- Auto-download of RAPID NetCDF — BODC/RAPID requires consent; we embed the latest published annual means and update when a new release ships.
- Gridded SST / OISST map tiles — Would need a NetCDF pipeline; v1 uses the AMV index as a subpolar proxy.
- Salinity (EN4) or full OSNAP daily series — Deferred for readability.
- Climate tipping-points dashboard link — Separate tool; not bundled here.
How we get the data
We refresh NOAA’s AMV file and the paper list on a regular schedule. RAPID and OSNAP transport values are real published numbers from official releases — they change only when a new release is published and we update our copy.
Open any ⓘ on the dashboard for what each number means.
AMOC is not the Gulf Stream
The Gulf Stream is largely wind-driven and is not expected to shut off. The AMOC is the density-driven overturning cell — the part scientists worry may weaken substantially under warming. Headlines that say “Gulf Stream collapse” usually mean AMOC weakening; we use RAPID and OSNAP for overturning, not Gulf Stream surface current.
How to read the numbers
- Sv (Sverdrup) — millions of cubic metres of water moved per second; used for ocean overturning strength.
- RAPID vs OSNAP — two mooring lines at different latitudes; both measure overturning but are not interchangeable.
- Cold blob KPI — sea-surface temperature pattern from AMV, not the same as the RAPID flow meter. NOAA’s AMV file currently ends at the latest complete month they publish (often with a multi-year processing lag in this mirror).
- Trend — linear fit to RAPID annual points (2004–2022); not the simple difference between the first and last year.