The Sinking of the RMS Titanic (1912)

What happened?

Willy Stöwer, German, 1864-1931. Titanic sinking, 1912. Oil on canvas. Die Gartenlaube.

  • On April 14, 1912, the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic, a British steam-powered luxury cruise liner, sank in the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada (image above). The ship, which was previously deemed “unsinkable” due to its size and cutting-edge technology, sank on its maiden voyage from Southampton, England to New York City, U.S.A. Although 700 people survived the event, over 1,500 passengers and crew members perished in the tragedy.
  • The Titanic sank several hours after colliding with an iceberg. The iceberg created a 300-foot (91-meter) rupture in the ship’s hull, below the water. This caused the Titanic to quickly fill with water.
    • As the ship was taking on water, passengers and crew members were evacuated on lifeboats. The White Star Line company which owned the Titanic, however, equipped it with only enough lifeboats to accommodate one-third of the passengers. Upper-class patrons were given priority, leaving many middle and lower-class passengers behind.
  • Several factors contributed to the sinking of the Titanic. For one, the vessel was traveling at full speed when it struck the iceberg, most likely because Captain E.J. Smith was attempting to beat the record for the fastest crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean. Historians also note that the Titanic’s radio operator failed to pass on an iceberg warning from a nearby ship.

How is this related to climate?

  • Historians attribute climate systems and conditions to the sinking of the RMS Titanic. The icebergs, like the one that the Titanic collided with, form in the Labrador Sea off the coast of western Greenland and are first transported northwest by the West Greenland Current, and then southeast by the Labrador Current (map below). The Gulf Stream, a warm water current that flows from the equator along the east coast of North America, acts as a barrier preventing these icebergs from reaching lower latitudes (map below). 
    • For this reason, not many icebergs travel as far south as where the Titanic sank (map below). However, climate scientists and historians suggest that icebergs were prevalent in this part of the North Atlantic Ocean in the winter and spring of 1912 due to unusual Arctic climate conditions. Several years of warm weather in the Arctic before the Titanic set sail increased rates of glacial melt in Greenland. The resulting meltwater functioned as a lubricant, allowing chunks of ice to break or calve from the glaciers and float into the ocean as icebergs.

Map of the North Atlantic Ocean and Labrador Sea with labeled currents (from Bressan, 2017). Icebergs form off the west coast of Greenland and are transported in a counterclockwise direction within the Sea of Labrador and into the North Atlantic Ocean. Cyclical climate conditions in 1912 increased the amount of icebergs off the coast of Labrador, contributing to the sinking of the Titanic. The white star at the bottom of the map marks the site where the Titanic struck an iceberg and later sank.

  • The sinking of the Titanic has also been attributed to the phases of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), an atmospheric circulation system. In the winter before the Titanic set sail, the NAO was in the positive phase (image below right). During the positive phase of the NAO, low air pressure (L) in Iceland and high pressure (H) in the Azores (Atlantic islands off the west coast of Portugal on the Iberian Peninsula), strengthened the jet stream that intensified a narrow band of strong winds that blow from west to east across the Atlantic Ocean. This allowed icebergs to be more easily transported out of the Labrador Sea and into the North Atlantic Ocean to where the Titanic sank (map above).

Map of the North Atlantic Oscillation, an atmospheric circulation and pressure system in its negative phase (to the left) and positive phase (to the right). Surface air pressure is typically low (L) near Iceland and high (H) west of the Iberian peninsula. During the positive NAO phase, the pressure difference increases, creating a western jet stream that pushed icebergs from the Labrador Sea to the North Atlantic Ocean (from Lindsey and Dahlman, 2009).

  • According to weather records from 1912, a high atmospheric pressure system formed above the North Atlantic Ocean, causing calm weather conditions. The tranquil seas and clear skies made spotting icebergs increasingly difficult. Iceberg spotters identified icebergs by searching for breakwater around the bases of floating ice in the water. As a result, the still conditions on the night the Titanic sank diminished spotters’ ability to notice icebergs from a distance.
    • Furthermore, atmospheric weather conditions caused super refraction, a visual phenomenon that distorts light, making objects in the water more difficult to spot. The Titanic was crossing warm Gulf Stream waters and had begun to enter the colder Labrador Current (map above). These conditions created layers of warm air above cold air, a phenomenon called thermal inversion (image below). Thermal inversion distorts light, causing a false horizon, where objects in the distance are obscured by a hazy mirage. This could have also contributed to why lookouts were unaware of the iceberg before it was too late.

Diagram of the oceanic and atmospheric conditions on the night the Titanic sank. Layers of hot air sat above cold air, a phenomenon known as thermal inversion, which caused super refraction, making icebergs in the water harder to spot (from Smithsonian Magazine, 2012).

Further exploration

  • Today, the sinking of the Titanic is seen as a lesson in the dangers of human hubris, or exaggerated self-confidence. The tragic event serves as a reminder of the consequences of overestimating our technology’s ability to rise over the laws of nature.
  • The sinking of the Titanic has also been used as an analogy to anthropogenic climate change. The disastrous fate of the Titanic reflects the consequences of ignorance and unpreparedness. White Star Line believed its ship was unsinkable, and intentionally equipped it with fewer lifeboats than necessary. Even after the Titanic struck the iceberg, passengers and crew members failed to act quickly, and some people still believed the vessel was unsinkable. Similarly, with climate change, scientists have warned about the effects of climate change for decades, yet governments and corporations have been slow to act in response.

References and additional resources

How to cite this page

The Sinking of the RMS Titanic (1912). (2025, February 7). Climate in Global Cultures and Histories: Promoting Climate Literacy Across Disciplines. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from https://www.science.smith.edu/climatelit/the-sinking-of-the-rms-titanic-1912/.