As the global climate drastically changes, so do oceanic currents

May 22, 2012 14:43 GMT  ·  By

Australian and US researchers have recently turned their attention towards the changes occurring in the Antarctic Bottom Water. Being a very cold and dense water that usually flows about 6000 meters below the sea's surface, the Antarctic Bottom Belt has a major impact on the general movement of our oceans.

Without it, our oceanic waters will suffer from lack of proper oxygenation and this can and will be easily be translated into the destruction of our most important ecosystems.

A simple comparison, between measurements of the Belt taken back in 1970 and measurements taken in 2012, shows that this lively river of cold and richly oxygenated water flowing at the bottom of our oceans has severely diminished its volume and its density: in fact, estimates go as far as 60%.

When speaking about climate change and rising temperatures, most people only think about witnessing otherwise “healthy” geographical areas turn into deserts before our very eyes. However, few ever stop and wonder what is going on in the depths of our oceans.

According to ScienceDaily, Dr. Rintoul, chief scientist on a recent voyage made so as to look into these matters, claims that global warming should in fact be understood as ocean warming.

All this is due to the fact that a staggering 90% of the extra heat energy stored by Earth throughout the past 50 years “has in fact gone into warming up the ocean.”

As oceanic currents change, industries such as fishing can be faced with serious financial issues, not to mention the fact that people living close to the ocean's shore may wake up one morning only to find that their homes have been swept away by gigantic waves.

For humanity to be able to tackle these problems head on, it is important that we first learn to look at our planet as a whole and understand the fact that each of our actions can have significant consequences hundreds of miles away from where it was carried out.

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Oceanic currents are affected by global warming
Oceanic currents are affected by global warming
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