Rapidly melting Antarctic ice is dramatically slowing down the flow of water through the world's oceans, and could have a disastrous impact on global climate, the marine food chain and even the stability of ice shelves, new research has found.
The "overturning circulation" of the oceans, driven by the movement of denser water towards the sea floor, helps deliver heat, carbon, oxygen and vital nutrients around the globe.
As temperatures rise, freshwater from Antarctica's melting ice enters the ocean, reducing the salinity and density of the surface water and diminishing that downward flow to the sea's bottom. "They are massive volumes of water... and they are bits of the ocean that have been stable for a long time," said study co-author Matthew England, an oceanographer at the University of New South Wales, in a news briefing.The effect of meltwater on global ocean circulation has not yet been included in the complex models used by the IPCC to describe future climate change scenarios, but it is going to be considerable, England said.
The study's findings also suggest the ocean would not be able to absorb as much carbon dioxide as its upper layers become more stratified, leaving more CO2 in the atmosphere.
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