As the whole earth gets warmer, even the extremely cold poles are warming.  The end result of this is increased melting of the ice caps.

In the Artic, the ice sheets are calving at a higher rate.

What does this mean?

It means three things:

1) Right now, there is a sufficient influx of cold, fresh water (icebergs traveling south) to feed the thermohaline gradient, which fuels the North Atlantic Current

2) There is not a never-ending supply of ice in the poles.

3) With increasing calving, there is a serious possibility that the supply of icebergs in the North Atlantic will decrease over time.

The net result will be the slowing of the North Atlantic Current.

This is an overly simple explanation, but the science is there.

To understand sea ice melting better, it’s time for a side topic:

Albedo

We will talk about this in the next post!

Want to learn more?

https://climate.nasa.gov/explore/ask-nasa-climate/2942/2020-vision-looking-back-to-drive-forward/

Photo credit: https://www.climate.gov/media/15594