Hydrography-constrained AMOC reconstruction shows freshwater-driven decline and fading thermal compensation
By constraining a high-resolution ocean model with historical hydrographic data from 1955 to 2022, this study reveals that the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation has experienced an overall freshwater-driven decline, which was temporarily buffered by thermal compensation in the late 20th century but has accelerated in recent years due to the loss of this thermal buffering and intensified salinity anomalies from Arctic export and Greenland melt.