2023-04-24 09:38:14
The oceans are collapsing! This emerges from a study of theUniversity of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia. This decline threatens to halt circulation in the depths of the ocean, which has profound implications for the climate and marine ecosystems.
In Antarctica, the water cools and sinks into deeper layers, creating a network of currents that spans the oceans of the entire planet. Thus, when it sinks, it generates a flow of energy, carbon, oxygen and nutrients for the entire globe.
This current is capable of influencing everything from marine ecosystems to global climate. However, according to scientists, if global carbon emissions continue at the current rate, sea currents will decrease by more than 40% over the next 30 years, thus heading towards a collapse.
Predicting the behavior of deep oceans
Every year, some 250,000 million tonnes of cold, salty, oxygen-rich water sink into Antarctica. This water then expands and carries oxygen to the depths of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
By modeling details of ocean processes that have never been simulated before – such as the influence of melting ice on ocean circulation – and using the worst-case scenario of pollutant emissions, scientists were able to determine that this system was collapsing.
It turns out that this deep ocean current has remained relatively constant for thousands of years, but that with increasing greenhouse gas emissions, it will slow down considerably in the coming decades.
The main cause of this phenomenon is melting ice around Antarctica. This process, which is accelerating, results in a decrease in the density of ocean water and slows Antarctic circulation.
With the collapse of this deep ocean current, the oceans below 4000 meters would simply stop moving and enter a state of stagnation. Nutrients would then be retained in the depths of the ocean, reducing the amount of food available for life in the upper layers of the ocean.
In addition, the process will significantly warm deep waters, a process already underway and confirmed by direct measurements. Generally, it will result in a mass extinction in the oceans and a profound change in the global climate, the extent of which has not yet been measured.
Unfortunately, the melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets will accelerate with global warming. This means that the next generations will certainly experience profound impacts on the oceans, caused by pollutant emissions.
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