Large sea anchors could be used to drag water under a bold plan to keep the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation moving – but some experts are sceptical
By Madeleine Cuff
27 June 2025
The plan to maintain the ocean current would involve much larger versions of parachute sea anchors
Ed Dunens (CC BY 2.0)
Shipping tankers, drones and fishing boats could be used to drag giant parachutes through the waters of the Atlantic Ocean as part of a drastic plan to avert catastrophic climate change.
The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) transports warm water from the tropics northwards, helping to keep northern Europe temperate.
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However, a rapidly melting Arctic and warming ocean temperatures are weakening the current, with some scientists fearing it could shut down altogether at some point in the coming century. This would plunge oceanic ecosystems into chaos and rapidly cool Europe’s climate by several degrees.
Greenhouse gas emissions need to be cut rapidly to reduce the risk of AMOC collapse and other catastrophic climate “tipping points”, experts stress. But some are considering other, more radical approaches to keep the current going.
Stuart Haszeldine at the University of Edinburgh, UK, and David Sevier of UK water treatment firm Strengite presented one idea at the Arctic Repair conference in Cambridge, UK, this week. They say that just 35 sea tugboats could be used to pull underwater parachutes, each about the size of half a football pitch, to move enough water to maintain the current. “You can have that very large effect with a very small intervention of energy and equipment,” says Haszeldine.