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Bayard

(28,764 posts)
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 06:24 PM Thursday

The Southern Ocean current reverses for the first time, signaling a risk of climate system collapse

A few scientists huddled around the screen, some squinting through fogged-up glasses, one clutching a mug of coffee gone cold an hour earlier. The numbers were wrong. Or rather, they were right, but they described something that was never supposed to happen in our lifetime: the great current encircling Antarctica had changed direction.

No one said anything at first. Just the slap of waves on metal and the wind gnawing at their hoods. Then someone whispered, half-joking, “Did we just break the planet?” A nervous laugh, quickly swallowed. They ran the measurements again. Same result. The Southern Ocean current, the conveyor belt that stabilises much of Earth’s climate, had reversed in a key sector. The screen glowed in the damp lab, a quiet alarm in pixels and graphs. Outside, the sea kept rolling, indifferent. Inside, a single thought spread: *what else is about to flip?

From space, the Southern Ocean looks like a restless halo, circling Antarctica without ever stopping. For decades, that ring-shaped current has flowed in one dominant direction, pushing cold, nutrient-rich water around the bottom of the planet. It’s the kind of slow, steady motion we treat as a given, like gravity or sunrise. Then the data sets from moored instruments and satellites began to line up, telling the same strange story: in a crucial region, the flow had turned around.

Oceanographers had warned that warming and freshening of Antarctic waters could disrupt this system. Still, when the first models suggested a real-world reversal, most people thought “not yet”. The ocean had other plans. In the space of a single season, a pattern that had held for centuries flickered, stumbled, then shifted. The maps that once showed a clean band of current now show eddies and patches of opposite motion, like a river starting to curl back on itself. That’s when the word “collapse” stopped sounding like science fiction and started sounding like a forecast.

https://www.thepunjab.co.uk/14-165653-the-southern-ocean-current-reverses-for-the-first-time-signaling-a-risk-of-climate-system-collapse-2/

Getting rid of trump, and putting the responsible adults back in charge, is a matter of survival.

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The Southern Ocean current reverses for the first time, signaling a risk of climate system collapse (Original Post) Bayard Thursday OP
KnR RockCreek Thursday #1
Getting rid of trump and all the current destroyers of decency won't reverse the course of nature. erronis Thursday #2
Yes, we've killed the Earth. NotHardly Thursday #3
We're killing the earth as we have known it. hunter Thursday #8
A good use of this song in Doctor Strangelove. erronis Thursday #9
Well, for us at least angrychair Thursday #17
Yes, it is too late PatSeg Thursday #6
We can't afford to wait. hay rick Thursday #16
Egon from Ghostbusters patphil Thursday #4
Democracy's not the only "experiment" BaronChocula Thursday #5
I fear we are a complete failure as a species PatSeg Thursday #7
Not to worry. It probably took the ants (as an example) a million years to figure out a good model. erronis Thursday #11
Well, if we as a species destroy PatSeg Thursday #20
I found this article from Antarctic.org.au debsy Thursday #10
Thanks for sharing...sorta. yellow dahlia Thursday #12
You are welcome... debsy Yesterday #23
What else? yellow dahlia Thursday #13
Fact Check: Did an Ocean Current Reverse? Warpy Thursday #14
We are the proverbial elderly person smoking a Camel while pulling an O2 tank up to a slot machine unconvinced that Cheezoholic Thursday #15
I've known people exactly like that. Sneaking a cigarette while dying in the hospital of emphysema erronis Thursday #19
This story does not appear to be true angrychair Thursday #18
I'm going to leave it up for now Bayard Friday #21
I found ZERO checkable references in the article. The author "Max Olivier" cites no studies or reputable individuals. Ford_Prefect Friday #22

erronis

(22,792 posts)
2. Getting rid of trump and all the current destroyers of decency won't reverse the course of nature.
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 06:33 PM
Thursday

These forces take decades, centuries, millennia to develop and will take similar times to change course.

But we need to try to act rationally with our home planet and prepare for expected and unexpected events. As it stands right now, the people who control (and/or want to control) the human impacts are devoid of reason and long-term planning.

NotHardly

(2,676 posts)
3. Yes, we've killed the Earth.
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 06:55 PM
Thursday
Not by asteroids, not by volcanos but by greed, avarice, and ignoring science.

" target="_blank">[/b ... best I can do.

hunter

(40,394 posts)
8. We're killing the earth as we have known it.
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 07:20 PM
Thursday

The earth will go on but it will be less hospitable to us.

In a few million years nothing will be left of humans but a curious layer of trash in the geologic record. And life will be rapidly evolving, reestablishing the diversity that we destroyed.

angrychair

(11,764 posts)
17. Well, for us at least
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 09:28 PM
Thursday

I always say I'm not an environmentalists for the Earth itself but for the human race. The Earth is billions of years old. It once rained for 2 million years straight.
The meteor wiped out 99% of all life but life still found a way... eventually.

That's why I'm not worried about the Earth but we may be in serious trouble.

hay rick

(9,395 posts)
16. We can't afford to wait.
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 09:06 PM
Thursday

Anthropogenic climate change needs to slowed down and stopped as soon as possible with or without the permission or cooperation of those in power.

BaronChocula

(4,065 posts)
5. Democracy's not the only "experiment"
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 07:13 PM
Thursday

Humanity itself is an experiment and it's proving to be a failure. When ample warning of catastrophe doesn't work, catastrophe is inevitable.

PatSeg

(52,286 posts)
7. I fear we are a complete failure as a species
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 07:17 PM
Thursday

We are so self-destructive and irrational, it would seem that our demise is probably on the horizon.

erronis

(22,792 posts)
11. Not to worry. It probably took the ants (as an example) a million years to figure out a good model.
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 07:54 PM
Thursday

Whatever the scientists consider "our species" original moment, we've already run through a bunch of known models and are still obviously experimenting.

Personally, I think I like being at this point where change is possible, rather than being destined to being one type of drudge for my short life. Maybe this is why most of us don't want to be relegated to being slaves, blue collar, housewives, handmaidens, etc. Give us a choice!

PatSeg

(52,286 posts)
20. Well, if we as a species destroy
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 10:16 PM
Thursday

most of the physical world we live in, that doesn't leave us much room for a new model.

A part of me believes we are on the verge of a quantum leap in evolution, but there will be a lot of pain and suffering in the process. Not to mention a major decrease in worldwide population, which is probably inevitable with climate change and wars being started all over the globe.

I do earnestly believe that if we don't change, we will become extinct. Pretty much everything I read about history tells me that we've been doing the same horrible stuff to one another for 1000s of years. I have encountered a few rare exceptions, particularly among Native American nations.

Sorry, I didn't mean to be such a downer, but this day is really getting to me.

Warpy

(114,437 posts)
14. Fact Check: Did an Ocean Current Reverse?
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 08:57 PM
Thursday
https://www.newsweek.com/fact-check-ocean-current-reversal-what-know-2096224

Good discussion about changes in salinity and some perturbation in the current. It's basically the same things that are going on with major ocean currents across the planet as the climate changes. S far, the chanes are measurable but slow.

Cheezoholic

(3,549 posts)
15. We are the proverbial elderly person smoking a Camel while pulling an O2 tank up to a slot machine unconvinced that
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 09:04 PM
Thursday

that behavior is a problem. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year until they're worm food.

erronis

(22,792 posts)
19. I've known people exactly like that. Sneaking a cigarette while dying in the hospital of emphysema
Thu Jan 15, 2026, 09:38 PM
Thursday

But stopping that one person from enjoying their last dying cigarette is not going to change the course of this world.

Most of us are wired to prefer short-term rewards. Some are much better at looking towards their own futures. Very few look into the future of our society and the planet's health.

Bayard

(28,764 posts)
21. I'm going to leave it up for now
Fri Jan 16, 2026, 12:21 AM
Friday

Per the Newsweek article:

"an erroneous press release from El Institut de Ciències del Mar about the June 30 study that allegedly included a flawed quote from study co-author Antonio Turiel regarding ocean circulation.

Turiel told Newsweek that the flawed quote was partly a result of mistranslation.

"Our original press note contained some wrong sentences, partly caused by mistranslation, partly caused by a wrong use of words on my side. That's the reason of the correction," he said.

Turiel added that the paper also found evidence that "isopycnals have shoaled, so effectively there is a change in the structure of Southern Ocean."

This doesn't indicate a change in direction for the current, Turial said, but that "it is likely that there is a change in the configuration of the currents.""

Ford_Prefect

(8,518 posts)
22. I found ZERO checkable references in the article. The author "Max Olivier" cites no studies or reputable individuals.
Fri Jan 16, 2026, 12:23 AM
Friday

While the topic may indeed be relevant or even correctly represented the author is not an expert and doesn't cite any data or dates of reference. It reads like an environmental "scare you" only slightly less sensational than Murdoch would publish.

I am not disputing the need to pay attention to changes in the ocean due to Climate Change. I am questioning this particular version and how it was presented and composed.

Max Olivier is listed as the author but I can find no references to an actual person. The page showing content listed under his byline reads like an AI version of quite a few topics. Informative perhaps, but with no actual references.

I strongly suspect this was written by an AI program pretending to be such a person.

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