A team of Dutch scientists has presented simulations showing that a massive dam across the Bering Strait could help prevent the collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. The proposal was outlined at a major geoscience conference in Vienna this month.
Jelle Soons and Henk Dijkstra at Utrecht University ran advanced climate models that indicate closing the strait would strengthen the AMOC, particularly if construction begins by 2050. Their earlier lower-resolution work had produced mixed outcomes, but the new supercomputer runs showed a surprisingly robust recovery in the current system that brings milder conditions to northern Europe.
