Categories: Cryosphere Capsules

Increased Antarctic Ice Sheet Melt Could Cause 40% Slowdown of Deep Ocean Currents by 2050

Nature, 29 March 2023

Projected increases in Antarctic ice sheet melt, especially with high emissions, appear poised to drive a substantial slowdown of deep ocean currents in coming decades, potentially as early as 2050 should current emissions continue. This would cause deep and widespread warming of deep ocean waters, and a 40% slowdown of overturning circulation by that date. The authors write that such changes “would profoundly alter the ocean overturning of heat, fresh water, oxygen, carbon and nutrients, with impacts felt throughout the global oceans for centuries to come.”

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05762-w

Pam Pearson

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