According to experts, the rapidly melting Antarctic ice might drastically slow the world’s oceans’ deep-water currents. This would have long-term effects on distributing freshwater, oxygen, and nutrients that support life.
If global carbon emissions remain high, quicker Antarctic ice melts would result in a “significant slowing” of water circulation in the ocean depths.
According to the study, in a high-emission scenario, the “overturning circulation” of waters in the deepest depths of the seas will slow by 40% by 2050. The study also warned of effects that would continue “for generations to come.”
The deep ocean circulation would be “on a trajectory that appears headed towards collapse” if the model is accurate.
Each year, scientists estimate that trillions of tons of cold, very salinized, and oxygen-rich water drop around Antarctica, sending a deep-water current northward to the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic seas. But, as more ice melts, the polar waters become less thick and salty, delaying the deep-water circulation, which impacts the climate, sea level, and marine ecosystems. This would be one of the oceans’ lungs, according to England.
And he said, “this would confine nutrients in the deep ocean, limiting the nutrients available to support marine life at the ocean surface” if the seas stagnate below 4,000 meters.