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Runoff from Greenland's rapidly melting ice sheet could severely disrupt currents in the Atlantic Ocean that regulate the global climate, researchers say. But the fresh water won't trigger the complete and irreversible collapse of the circulation that some research predicts, a new study suggests.

By 2100, Greenland meltwater could cause a reduction in the strength of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) equivalent to an additional 10% to 20% on top of the weakening that many scientists already expect for this huge system of currents, researchers found.

Previous research suggests the AMOC, which moves heat from the tropics to the Northern Hemisphere and cold water back south toward Antarctica, is at its weakest in more than 1,000 years due to Arctic ice melt and soaring ocean temperatures. Models indicate that the circulation will continue to weaken for decades to come , potentially unleashing freezing weather in Northwest Europe, additional sea-level rise along the U.S. East Coast and droughts around the equator.

The AMOC loops around the Atlantic Ocean, bringing warm waters north along the ocean's surface and cold waters south along the ocean floor. (Image credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio) The new study revealed that by 2300, Greenland's ice sheet could cause a whopping 40% of AMOC weakening on top of the declines projected by some climate models if we continue to cook the planet. The results highlight the effects on the AMOC of a growing freshwater pulse from Greenland that most climate models currently don't take into account, the authors said.

"By the year 2100, yes, we have something, but the greatest fraction is what we add later," study co-author Jost von Hardenberg , a professor in the Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering at the Polytechnic University of Turin in Italy, told Live Science.

Meltwater from the Arctic and Greenland slows the AMOC by preventing the formation of deep currents in the North Atlantic that drive the circulation south toward Antarctica. Deep currents form when masses of cold, salty water sink to the seabed, but inputs of fresh water and rising water temperatures are blocking this step by diluting and warming surface waters.

While Arctic meltwater is commonly integrated into climate simulations, researchers have been slower to include runoff from the Greenland ice sheet in models, partly because this runoff may not be as disruptive as Arctic meltwater on shorter timescales, von Hardenberg said.

"In order to represent correctly the Greenland melt, you need a specific, dynamic model for the Greenland ice sheet. It's nice to have, but it requires a lot of resources to develop," von Hardenberg said

The Community Ice Sheet Model version 2 (CESM2) is one of the few available simulations of the Greenland ice sheet. For the study, von Hardenberg and his colleagues used a global climate model called EC-Earth3, which does not include the Greenland ice sheet. The team added the ice sheet from CESM2 to explore how it might affect the AMOC over the next few centuries. Adding the ice sheet separately enabled them to compare AMOC weakening with and without Greenland, clearly revealing the impact of the ice sheet on the AMOC's strength.

The results, published June 19 in the journal Science Advances , suggest the Greenland ice sheet will have a big influence on Atlantic ocean currents, especially after 2100.

"Greenland starts really melting strongly only after that date," von Hardenberg said. "If you go farther in our simulation — we go up to the year 2300 — that is also when this meltwater really becomes extremely strong."

Yet unlike other studies that show the AMOC collapsing irreversibly under climate change, in this model, the circulation recovered once the team switched off the meltwater or dialed down greenhouse gas emissions. Both the simulations that didn't include the Greenland ice sheet and those that did had similar results, recovering partially when the meltwater was turned off and fully when greenhouse gas emissions were stopped.

The recovery in the model suggests that the AMOC is more stable than previously thought and doesn't suddenly flip from an active state into a collapsed one, von Hardenberg said. "It's consistent with a strong weakening, but not a shutdown," he said.

Overall, the findings show that it is important to include the Greenland ice sheet in climate models — something von Hardenberg and his colleagues are planning to do in the next version of the EC-Earth3 model.

"It's really something which is worthwhile doing to better constrain the uncertainty of these future simulations," von Hardenberg said. "If we have a larger set of models which include this component, we will be in a better position to try to answer the question, 'How much do we expect AMOC to decrease in different scenarios?'"

Other experts agreed that integrating the Greenland ice sheet in climate models will increase the accuracy of AMOC predictions.

"What makes the study particularly interesting is that it directly tests a process that has often been highlighted as an important source of uncertainty in future AMOC projections," said Jonathan Baker , a senior climate scientist at the Met Office in the U.K. who was not involved in the study.

The results are consistent with previous research showing that Greenland meltwater causes additional AMOC weakening, but whether the system could collapse is still uncertain, given that the team used only one model, Baker told Live Science in an email. "Repeating these experiments across a wider range of models will be important to assess how robust the findings are," he said.

Nicholas Foukal , an assistant professor at the University of Georgia's Skidaway Institute of Oceanography who was not involved in the study, said he doesn't think the use of a single model limits the analysis.

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"I think this result is robust and I am glad to see the authors come to this conclusion in such a high-resolution and realistic coupled climate model," Foukal told Live Science in an email. "This finding also agrees with other modeling results that require immense amounts of fresh water, much more fresh water than is available on Greenland, to cause irreversible change in the AMOC."

However, a third expert said the model used in the study is unrealistic, because its parameters make the AMOC more resilient than those of other models. Therefore, the study should be replicated in other models to draw unbiased conclusions.

"While the experiment reported is interesting, its outcomes are neither surprising nor should be interpreted as exemplary for the whole model ensemble," Sybren Drijfhout , a professor of physical oceanography at the University of Southampton in the U.K., told Live Science in an email.

Researchers should investigate the impact of the Greenland ice sheet on the AMOC further, von Hardenberg said. "It would be interesting in the future to check it [the AMOC's recovery with Greenland meltwater] with other models, but of course it's encouraging to see it in one case," he added.

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Scenes and sounds from the July 16 “Stars, Stripes, and Supernovas – Symphony Under the Stars” event at NASA Langley.

NASA/Joe Atkinson

NASA Langley’s “Stars, Stripes, and Supernovas – Symphony Under the Stars” event brought employees, families, and community members together for an evening filled with music, connection, and celebration.

Organizers planned the event, which took place July 16, to mark the 250 th anniversary of the founding of the United States of America.

The evening featured a dynamic mix of performances from an orchestra that included NASA Langley employees and members of the Williamsburg Youth Orchestra, as well as smaller group performances from employees and special guest artist Karl Werne.

Musicians perform at NASA Langley’s “Stars, Stripes, and Supernovas – Symphony Under the Stars” event.

NASA/Mark Knopp

“It’s fun to bring people together, to share their diverse talents in order to create something that’s meaningful – and in this case something that was very beautiful too,” said Jennifer Kibler, deputy director of the Research Directorate at NASA Langley.

The orchestra played a selection of patriotic favorites and space-inspired pieces that highlighted the creativity and talent within the community. “America the Beautiful,” “God Bless America,” and “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity” from Gustav Holst’s orchestral suite “The Planets” were among the songs they performed.

The event, which also took place just one day before NASA Langley’s 109 th birthday, served as a reminder of the spirit that defines the center—scientists, engineers, communicators, and staff coming together to celebrate not only NASA’s mission, but the people who make that mission possible.

“This was a big team effort,” said Nicole Oman, administrative management specialist with the Research Directorate. “It wouldn’t have been a success without the contributions of every single person.”

Left to right: Guest artist Karl Werne performs with NASA Langley’s Lena Pascale, Jonathan Rathsam, and Kelly Murphy.

NASA/Mark Knopp

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Palworld 1.0 has been out for over a week now, giving players ample time to get to know the survival game's latest monster Pals and their, um, curves. Which is to say, Pocketpair publishing and communications lead John "Bucky" Buckley regrets putting out an open call for new skin ideas.

"Theoretically, hypothetically, conceptually, and spiritually…if, with absolutely no promise of it being realized or coming to fruition ever, but if…capital I and capital F…" Buckley writes on Twitter , "IF…any of the new Pals in 1.0 were to get a skin, which would it be and what would the skin be." Fans express-delivered the answer straight to his doorstep, and he screamed: Sekhmet maid skin.

Sekhmet's namesake is a fearsome Egyptian goddess, but Palworld instead decided to create a heavy-lidded catgirl wearing a strapless black dress. So, I'm sorry, Buckley, but we were always going to arrive at "Sekhmet maid skin."

Still, I know that accepting the consequences of your actions doesn't necessarily make them more palatable, and so Buckley has decided to explode maid skin proponents with psychokinesis. A mere three minutes after posting his initial call for skin ideas on Twitter, the Pocketpair lead followed up with an image of the Watchmen's Doctor Manhattan disintegrating an enemy to his left while maintaining perfect posture.

"'Sekhmet maid skin,'" Buckley says gravely. "Me on the right, you on the left."

“Sekhmet maid skin”Me on the right, you on the left. pic.twitter.com/9wqJ62X9wd July 21, 2026

"How about Venusa maid skin though?" responds one Palworld player .

"But an actual maid outfit for Solene though?" says another .

Another wonders , "Fine then how about Anubis maid skin?"

Come on, people, show some decorum. Save your thirst for the upcoming Palworld dating sim .

Palworld 1.0 brings a revelation to longtime fans who never crafted an invaluable item: "I thought they were consumable."