Ireland could see a 'cooling' of its weather due to climate change, unlike many parts of the world which are seeing rising temperatures.
A new report from the Marine Institute has said Ireland is likely to experience this cooling because of a weakening of the Gulf Stream.
The report said atmospheric temperatures "would be potentially 10°C cooler" if the Gulf Stream system collapsed.
It noted that while a collapse is unlikely, a decline in the 21st century due to climate change is "very likely", with some records indicating this may have already begun.
Dr Gerard McCarthy is co-author of the report. He told Newstalk Breakfast what this all means.
"When we look at the picture of a globe, what we see is we see global temperatures rising almost everywhere," he said.
"Almost the only exception to that is the North Atlantic between here and Canada.
"Over the 20th century, we've actually seen a slight cooling in that area".
An unsettled weather forecast. Picture: Met OfficeDr McCarthy said the Gulf Stream in this area is "critical" to Ireland's climate.
"From climate models we know that the Gulf Stream system is expected to weaken," he said.
"We know that from a weakened Gulf Stream system, what we can expect is a relative cooling.
"This might not be an absolute cooling - this is relative to the global temperature rise, depending on how much the Gulf Stream system weakens by".
Dr McCarthy said this will likely mean drier summers.
"[This] might sound great, but it has a big knock-on effect for how we store our water in the country," he said.
"There's also knock-on effects for storminess - we expect a stormier future if the Gulf Stream system weakens, with more storms channelling in the direction of Ireland in the winter.
"We can expect drier summers, wetter winters; we can expect actually slightly less storminess, but with bigger storms.
"If the situation happens that the Gulf Stream weakens dramatically... that would lead to a slight relative cooling in Ireland, but also an increase in that storminess and a knock-on effect for precipitation particularly in the summertime," he added.
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