Recent satellite and robotic float records reveal that reduced freshwater runoff is allowing warmer, saltier water from deep layers to upwell and alter the Antarctic Intermediate Water mass. This critical layer travels northward hundreds of meters beneath the surface, linking the Southern Ocean to the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific basins. The resulting salinity increases by roughly 0.0048 grams per kilogram per decade could alter the ocean's layered structure and accelerate global climate impacts.
Key points
Diminished sea ice has reversed decades of ocean freshening by curbing essential cold, fr…: Diminished sea ice has reversed decades of ocean freshening by curbing essential cold, fresh surface water inputs.
The resulting restructuring of ocean layers could release trapped deep-ocean carbon direc…: The resulting restructuring of ocean layers could release trapped deep-ocean carbon directly into the atmosphere.
Continuous monitoring beneath Antarctic sea ice is necessary because this water mass infl…: Continuous monitoring beneath Antarctic sea ice is necessary because this water mass influences major ocean circulation worldwide.
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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 an important role in shaping the ocean’s vertical structure, influencing the temperature, salinity and density of water layers as it travels away from the Southern Ocean. For…
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