Valerio Lucarini

The dance between two partners, the ocean and the sky, has been going on for thousands of years. El Niño warms the Pacific, and usually at the same time seasonal rains over India weaken. But in recent decades, the rhythm seems off: rains don't always respond to the warm current.

The orchestra plays the symphony of climate. Each violin, each wind instrument carries its own part: these are the Kolmogorov modes, the system's natural rhythms. Suddenly, a thunderclap bursts into the hall: a sharp jump, like a gust of wind or a downpour. Previously, we could only listen to the smooth sound, but we couldn't decipher such chords. In the new work, mathematicians have completed the score.

In the Atlantic, a giant invisible conveyor operates: warm surface waters flow north, cool, sink, and return south. This circulation, AMOC, carries heat, making Europe noticeably milder than Canada at the same latitudes. But the conveyor isn't eternal: if diluted by fresh water from melting Greenland ice, the engine stalls.