A LIFE-SUSTAINING RELATIONSHIP:
Ocean & Humans
PART 3 (of 5)
The Global Conveyor Belt: Regulating the Climate of Planet Earth
January 8, 2026
The ocean has more than one nickname—and, for good reason. This vast body of water serves in several roles, enabling and sustaining human life. Some of those nicknames include ‘The Planet’s Thermostat’ … ‘Big Blue’ … ‘Saltwater’ … ‘‘The Deep’ … and more. In this piece, we will focus on the water currents system inside the ocean that bears the nickname:
‘The Global Conveyor Belt’
Indeed, the ocean does have a giant conveyor belt system in the form of ocean currents that move cold deep water—much of which cooled by icebergs—from the North Pole and South Pole toward the tropics (near the Equator) and to other warm regions of the Earth, in order to moderate regional temperatures. Then, as the conveyor belt cycles back, it moves the warm surface water from the tropics (that became warm from extensive sunlight) toward the poles to ease the frigid air in the cold regions. Hence, the ocean regulates the climate to make Earth habitable by humans and other species.
A very vivid graphical representation of this Global Conveyor Belt can be seen on this page of
NASA’s website
.
And yet, there is still much more to this phenomenon …
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THE ESSENCE
THE DETAILS
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The escalating problem in our days is that the ocean has to absorb more and more heat because the heat from increasing human activity cannot escape beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, so the ocean is the only place to absorb it. BUT: the ocean’s capacity is not limitless. Therefore, the increasing amount of warm water overwhelms the amount of cold water, in the ocean. This also causes its sea level to rise (as warm water takes up more space), and the ocean’s conveyor belt ability becomes less efficient as there is not sufficient amount of cold water to transport to the hotter regions of the Earth. In other words, the extreme amounts of heat generated by humans makes it difficult for the ocean to fulfill its role to support the lives of humans.
And so, the oft‑repeated concern about melting icebergs is not just a concern about some pretty scenery or tourist attraction, but is a concern about an essential source that helps maintain human life.
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the nitty‑gritty
With this conveyor belt movement, the ocean also transports nutrients and gases, and drives atmospheric moisture (water vapor in the air), producing most of the planet’s rain and storm through evaporation of water. All these movements of cold and hot water, of nutrients, of moisture in the air throughout the Earth influences weather patterns and stabilizes the climate.
What necessitates this conveyor belt movement, in the first place, is that the amount and intensity of sunlight is not the same in every region of the Earth due to the fact that the Earth’s shape is a sphere. Therefore, regions near the equator receive the most sunlight while the poles receive the least. Without the ocean’s activity of redistributing heat throughout the Earth, the climate would be unbearable in many regions: too hot in the tropics and too frigid near the poles; and, human life would not survive in much of the Earth.
THE QUALITIES AND WORKINGS OF THE OCEAN
and its surveyor belt
  • QUALITIES OF THE OCEAN
    • The ocean is a very large body of a water, covering about 71% of the Earth, and is about 3.8 km (2.3 miles) deep
      • This enormous size and the qualities of water give the ocean its extraordinary ability to absorb and store heat (that comes from the Sun and human activities), and to transport that heat throughout the Earth
      • On the other hand, air does not have nearly as much ability to store heat
        • IN COMPARISON: Even just the top few meters of the ocean can store as much heat as the entire atmosphere of the Earth
    • The ocean is a living entity (not a still water), with its own specific system of actions it performs—all of which support life on Earth: the life of the planet itself, the life of various animals, the life of vegetation, and the life of humans
  • HOW THE OCEAN WORKS in its role of being a conveyor belt
    • The ocean absorbs heat that comes from the Sun, and from the heat generated by human activities (such as burning fossil fuels to produce goods, or by driving cars, etc.) ⟶It stores that heat ⟶ This absorbed and stored heat makes the surface of the ocean (surface water) much warmer than the cold deep water ⟶ The ocean distributes the warm and cold water by ocean currents to the various regions of the Earth, according to their needs (i.e. transports cold deep water to the tropics to cool down the air, and hot surface water toward the North Pole and South Pole to ease frigidity in the air)
    • Warm water is light weight, and remains on the surface of the ocean … Cold water is heavier, and is deep in the ocean
    • Although the ocean moves heat (in the form of warm water) throughout the Earth, the heat doesn’t disappear, but re‑enters the system by: melting ice shelves, or evaporating water, or directly reheating the atmosphere ⟹ Continuously adding more and more heat continues to warm the ocean water (and the air) more and more
    • In order for the ocean to regulate the climate in all regions of the Earth (through this conveyor belt system), the amounts of cold‑ and warm water must be in good balance
      • HOWEVER: as human activities generate more and more heat (i.e. greenhouse gases) ⟹ The ocean must absorb that additional heat ⟹ The amount of warm/hot water in the ocean becomes disproportionately more than the cold water ⟹ The ocean has less cold water to distribute to the regions of the Earth that need it ⟹ This imbalance between the amounts of hot‑ and cold water also affects other climate phenomena, such as storms or rain or flooding, etc. ⟹ Life on Earth becomes more difficult
    • The ocean is a vast, but finite entity. It is not capable of absorbing unlimited amount of heat. Yet, humans are producing more and more heat (i.e. greenhouse gases), without regard to this limit ⟹ The ocean’s ability to regulate the climate for humans to live is continuously being diminished (by humans) ⟵ At some point, the ocean’s ability will cease to be sufficient to support human life (unless humans seriously cut back on their heat‑generating activities)
    • Through our human activities, we have the power to either damage or to nurture the ocean—which will then damage or nurture us back.
      • ⟶ next
      • ⟵ back
      • ⟹ consequently
      • ⟸ as said before
    EXPAND ALL COLLAPSE ALL
WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
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While our everyday actions seem tiny in comparison to the immense size of the ocean, they actually do make a difference … because the heat generated by the collective activities of humans add up. In fact, that makes all the difference.
STAND UP TO LARGE POLLUTERS
Make your voice heard by large polluter companies and entities. You can do this in your individual capacity or through established groups of people.
Among these are taking flights or using cars frequently, or when lesser-polluting means of transportation is also available.
CHANGE YOUR OWN EXTENSIVE GREENHOUSE GAS EMITTING HABITS
CONSIDER YOUR EVERYDAY HABITS … then make changes
Wasting food (that generates methane gas), using washing machines with only partial loads inside, using dryer machines when air‑drying would satisfy, and other habits … all add to your own greenhouse gas generating human activities.
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