Is the Atlantic Circulation Collapsing?

I've posted here several times about the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (which includes the Gulf Stream), a system of currents that is responsible for (among many other things) moderating Europe's climate. There have been reports over the last decade that it may be slowing down or even collapsing, which would have devastating effects on the world's climate.

The excellent Eye on the Storm blog on the Yale Climate Connection site has just published a two-part article about the AMOC. You may have seen some sensationalist articles in the mainstream press saying that it's collapsing and we're all doomed. If you want to find out what we really know about the AMOC, its current state, and what might happen in the future, then read these articles. This is topflight science journalism. 

• Atlantic circulation collapse? New clues on the fate of a crucial conveyor belt. "In part one, we looked at observations from the North Atlantic that suggest a gradual weakening in AMOC strength over the last few decades, but only a marginally significant drop over the past 40 years of AMOC monitoring, including the largest near-surface component, the Gulf Stream."
• How much should you worry about a collapse of the Atlantic conveyor belt? "It’s not yet game over for the AMOC. As we discussed in part one of this post, the actual observations of 3D AMOC flow through the North Atlantic are still too brief to separate natural variations from long-term trends. And a modest decrease observed over the last 40 years has just been revised in an even more modest direction. ... As for now, we’re left with a dystopian, world-changing possibility – but one that’s still shrouded by enough observational and methodological uncertainty to make the answer to “When will it happen?” both less concrete and more worrisome than we’d like."
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