Europe's record heatwave linked to mysterious ‘cold blob' in Atlantic

As Europe has been hit by its most severe heat wave ever recorded, scientists point to an unlikely accomplice: a patch of unusually cold water in the North Atlantic.

The region has been baking in temperatures of above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, with France having had the hottest temperatures recorded, hundreds of schools in Britain closed, and more than a thousand heat-related deaths recorded.

In contrast, however, just a few hundred kilometres away towards the west, between Greenland and Ireland, there is a strange blue blotch that shows temperatures actually falling as the rest of the world heats up.

Scientists believe the European heat crisis is exacerbated by the “cold blob.”

Referred to as the “cold blob,” this phenomenon might even be worsening Europe’s heatwave problem instead of offering a solution.

Scientists elaborate on how the melting ice from Greenland ends up dumping fresh water into the oceans, thus interfering with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which is a key current that moves warm water from the tropics towards the north.

As per the studies, the blob has been cooled by up to 0.9 degrees Celsius since 1900, even as global sea surface temperature increased by 1 degree.

Scientists now give a 50% chance of an AMOC shutdown this century that can bring dire consequences such as even harsher European weather, droughts in Asia and Africa, and rising sea levels.