Antarctic Sea ice decline makes key ocean water mass saltier, raises warming concerns
A new study reveals that the decline in Antarctic sea ice since 2015 has caused ocean water to become saltier and denser. This shift could disrupt ocean circulation and potentially accelerate global warming by releasing stored carbon.
Why it matters
Understanding changes in ocean water masses is critical for predicting the long-term impacts of climate change on global weather patterns and sea levels.
BENGALURU: A decline in Antarctic sea ice since 2015 has reversed decades of freshening in a major ocean water mass, making it saltier and denser, a study published in Nature Climate Change has found. The change could disrupt the ocean’s layered structure and make it easier for carbon stored in the deep ocean to escape into the atmosphere, adding to global warming.The study, conducted by researchers from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), the University of Melbourne and the University of Southampton, examined changes in Antarctic Intermediate Water (AAIW), which forms in the Southern Ocean and spreads northwards through the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, typically hundreds of metres below the surface.“Changes to this water mass can carry the effects of changes near Antarctica far beyond the polar region,” said Kaushik Mishra, the study’s lead author and a PhD student at IISc’s Centre for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (CAOS).AAIW plays…
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