Antarctic waters are slowed in their warming process, according to new research findings.
In a new study published in Nature Geoscience, researchers have found that deep, cold ocean currents from the North Atlantic are slowing the rise of sea levels in Antarctica. The study, led by Kyle Armour from the University of Washington in Seattle, suggests that this icy insulation could last for centuries.
The water welling up around Antarctica today began its north-to-south trans-Atlantic journey before the Industrial Era. This current, a key role player in delaying Southern Ocean warming, is attributed to a deep ocean current conveyor belt transporting icy water from the Arctic region.
While the vastness of Antarctica's ice sheet, the reflective sea ice surrounding it, the winds, and ocean currents that circle the continent all contribute to the slow effect of climate change on the continent, concerns remain. One of the ice sheets causing concern is located on Greenland, and the other on West Antarctica, which is warming faster than the rest of the continent.
The Totten Glacier, primarily beneath sea level, is being eroded from below by sea water flowing hundreds of kilometers inland. Even slight warming can cause damage, not just in West Antarctica, but also in East Antarctica, where a glacier the size of France is rapidly shedding water and could raise oceans some two meters (6 feet) in a few centuries if it were melting at the same rate as West Antarctica.
The impact of heat-trapping greenhouse gases on the Southern Ocean will be profound over a timescale of multiple centuries. If East Antarctica were melting at the same rate as West Antarctica, the impact on human settlements along coastlines worldwide would be catastrophic.
Newer studies suggest the ocean waterline could go up even more due to surface water expansion as it warms, glacier runoff, and ice sheet melting. Hundreds of millions of people in low-lying regions are threatened by sea levels set to rise up to a meter by the end of the century, according to a UN climate science panel report.
Professor Nerilie Abram from the Australian National University conducted a separate study on the influence of deep ocean currents on the global warming effect in Antarctica. Climate change has affected Antarctica's Southern Ocean far more slowly over the last half-century than oceans elsewhere.
Despite the slowing effect of deep ocean currents, it is crucial to address the issue of climate change to prevent further damage to Antarctica's ice sheets and the potential catastrophic consequences for coastal communities worldwide.
