EPOC is a European AMOC research project. We study the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation: how it works, how it has changed, and what its future holds. Institutions across Europe and North America are combining observations, palaeoclimate records, and climate models to resolve uncertainties about AMOC behaviour. Together, we examine how AMOC links to weather, sea level rise, ecosystems, and carbon uptake.
The project is coordinated by Universität Hamburg and brings together 24 partner institutions across Europe and North America. EPOC is funded under the Horizon Europe programme, grant agreement 101081383, and runs until June 2027.
The AMOC, or Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, is a large-scale circulation pattern in the ocean. It regulates heat and rainfall across Europe and beyond. EPOC is working to understand how climate change will affect it.
We examine what the latest science says about AMOC collapse risk, separating near-term plausible risks from extreme scenarios that go beyond current evidence, and explaining why accurate communication matters.
Is the AMOC approaching a tipping point? EPOC scientists examine the modelling evidence and what it does — and does not — tell us about the risk of an abrupt shutdown.
Deep water heading south from the Arctic doesn't travel in a straight line. At the Flemish Cap, EPOC researchers found it leaks, scatters and transforms, with consequences for how the AMOC carries its signal across the whole Atlantic.
How do scientists know how the ocean and climate has varied in the distant past when observations only go back 70 years or so? The answer is in the mud at the bottom of the ocean.
The AMOC's strength fluctuates day to day and over centuries. EPOC scientists explain what drives these swings, and why even small changes ripple out to European heatwaves, sea levels and monsoon rainfall on the other side of the world.
EPOC project gathers for second annual meeting Marking the end of the second year of the project, on 18-20 September 2024 EPOC scientists gathered in Reading, UK for a 3-day conference to showcase results so far, discuss progress and plan in detail
EPOC Newsletter #2 now out The second edition of the EPOC newsletter is now out. Catch up on our latest expeditions, research results and expert opinion on all things AMOC. Download PDF (1.5MB)
EPOC researchers pay a return visit to Grand Banks and Flemish Cap August 2024 sees EPOC researchers returning to the Grand Banks and Flemish Cap region to continue their data gathering mission in this oceanographically complex area off Newfoundland in the NW
EPOC research shows the Gulf Stream is wind-powered and could weaken from climate change Research led by EPOC researchers at University College London (UCL) reveals new evidence of changes to the Gulf Stream during the last ice age, which could indicate additional
Number of peer-reviewed publications EPOC has contributed to.
See the full list of publications.