Atlantic Ocean circulation research reached millions last week when the UK’s Channel 4 News featured an extended segment on the National Oceanography Centre‘s research expedition to the RAPID array monitoring system. This timely focus on the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) comes just as the world’s ocean scientists gather in Scotland for the Ocean Sciences Meeting in Glasgow (22-27 February 2026). The convergence of prime-time TV coverage and the OSM conference reflects growing recognition that AMOC variability matters for climate, weather, and ecosystems.
The Channel 4 News feature, ‘The key Atlantic current that could change Europe’s climate forever‘, documented RAPID array operations off Tenerife in a broadcast that went out on primetime UK TV on 10 February. Viewers watched oceanographers recover instrumentation from 3000m depth and download data from sensors encrusted with marine life. The tension of redeploying a RAPID array deep-sea mooring was also captured.
NOC Principal Scientist Dr Ben Moat walked audiences through 20 years of AMOC variability, focusing on the 2009-2010 “perfect storm” when AMOC strength plummeted and heat flow toward Europe dropped by 30%. This dip was accompanied by the coldest December the UK had experienced in a century while simultaneously, New York City experienced 13cm of sea level rise.
NOC’s Dr Adam Blaker – who currently coordinates EPOC’s work on quantifying past AMC change – demonstrated climate models tracking AMOC from the 1970s to present, explaining how models are validated against decades of RAPID observations.
EPOC’s Adam Blaker (NOC) demonstrates how ocean data contributes to climate models. Image courtesy Channel 4 News
Despite being only 6 minutes in length, this news feature allowed audiences to link the importance of AMOC to their everyday lives whilst also showcasing the need for sustained ocean monitoring.
Marine science will be at the fore in the UK this month as Glasgow hosts the prestigious Ocean Sciences Meeting – a key conference for ocean scientists all over the world. EPOC will have a strong presence at the meeting, with presentations and special sessions convened by the project’s researchers.
From paleoclimate reconstructions spanning millennia to real-time Arctic observations, EPOC presentations at OSM showcase the breadth of approaches needed to understand Atlantic circulation. Here’s a forward look at the EPOC offerings in the conference programme:
Science Plenary: Beyond the Conveyor Belt – EPOC project leader Professor Eleanor Frajka-Williams (University of Hamburg) delivers “Beyond the Conveyor Belt: AMOC Observations, Surprises, and Uncertainties.” This plenary will examine what two decades of mooring data reveal about AMOC collapse projections, exposing complexity that simple conveyor belt narratives miss: variability across timescales, rapid fluctuations, unexpected downturns. The plenary confronts critical limitations including spatial gaps and the challenge of distinguishing forced trends from natural variability.
Reconstructing 2,000 Years of Deep Ocean Flow – Jack Wharton (UCL) presents sediment grain size reconstructions revealing opposing trends: Labrador Sea Water increased 13% since 1850 while Iceland-Scotland Overflow Water declined 30% since 1750, potentially linked to Little Ice Age sea-ice changes. The work connects to Wharton’s recent Nature publication on Last Glacial Maximum deep water.
Arctic Freshwater Export: Three Decades of Change – Laura de Steur (Norwegian Polar Institute) presents observations from year-round moorings monitoring the East Greenland Current since 1991. While sea ice volume transport decreased, liquid freshwater export increased 60% after 2020. Arctic freshwater outflow composition changed from nearly equal ice and ocean partition to 20% sea ice and 80% oceanic freshwater.
Aerosols, Greenhouse Gases, and AMOC Evolution – Rym Msadek (CERFACS) presents research addressing why indirect observations suggest 20th-century AMOC weakening while climate models indicate relative stability. Using CERFACS-EPOC simulations, the work isolates aerosol effects from greenhouse gas forcing. Model ensembles split into weak and strong AMOC responses, tied to initial Arctic sea ice conditions, highlighting background state importance.
Beyond featured presentations, EPOC scientists present research spanning the Atlantic. Talks by Zarina Hewitt and David Thornalley examine Atlantic transport mechanisms and climate impacts. Posters cover mooring array observations, circulation variability, and climate impacts, including work by Till Baumann, Francesca Doglioni, Brady Ferster, Hongdou Fan, Gaurav Madan, Rebecca McPherson, Maria-Jesus Rapanague, Christian Mertens, Felipe Vilela-Silva, and Simon Wett.
Eleanor Frajka-Williams and Laura de Steur will host the AMOC Observations in Transition Town Hall alongside EPOC scientists Peter Brown and Adam Blaker. Frajka-Williams also chairs two sessions on Atlantic Ocean Connectivity: PS11A and PS21A.