14 DAY TRIAL // While previous investigations of the role oceans play in controlling Earth's climate were mostly focused on the North Atlantic Ocean, a new investigation suggests that the Southern Ocean may play a very important role in this as well.
Oceans are very important because they act as conveyors, transporting heat, moisture, water, carbon and other chemicals to various areas of the planet. This is done continuously, and each ocean has its own circulation patterns, to which it sticks.
But these currents and large-scale circulations interact at various points – such as the North Atlantic – and these interactions are extremely important for determining Earth's local and global climate.
Analyzing how water stores and releases heat is essential if we are to have access to relevant data on the topic. This information can then be fed into computer models, which can reveal the fate that awaits us decades or centuries from now.
During a new investigation of the Southern Ocean, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, say that the ribbon of water surrounding Antarctica is responsible for rising cold water circulating deep under the surface back to the top layers of the ocean.
This enables the entire pattern to begin anew. Filling in the blanks of how this global system works was a huge challenge for scientists, one that took a long while to complete. The deep waters are drawn to the surface by winds driving the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.
“There’s a lot of carbon and heat in the interior ocean. The Southern Ocean is the window by which the interior of the ocean connects to the atmosphere above,” says the MIT Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Oceanography, John Marshall.
The expert led the work together with colleague Kevin Speer, who holds an appointment as a professor of physical oceanography at the Florida State University (FSU). Details of their study appear in the latest issue of the top scientific journal Nature Geoscience.
“There are huge reservoirs of carbon in the interior of the ocean. If the climate changes and makes it easier for that carbon to get into the atmosphere, then there will be an additional warming effect,” Marshall says.
The MIT team now plans to continue its investigations on how the Southern Ocean can modify global climate patterns.