The consequences of this can be unpredictable.
Scientists from the University of New South Wales stated that The Southern Ocean absorbs most of the excess heat that is released on the planet. According to researchers, the warming of this ocean is actually irreversible on the scale of human life, since it takes a millennium for the heat captured by the water to be thrown back into the atmosphere, reports Science alert.
That is, the changes that are happening now will be felt by future generations. . And these changes will only get worse unless we can reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
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Ocean warming mitigates the effects of climate change. But it does not pass in vain. Sea levels are rising because warming causes water to expand and ice to melt. Marine ecosystems are experiencing heat stress, and extreme weather events are becoming more frequent.
But scientists still do not have sufficient data on when and where ocean warming occurs. This is due to three factors.
First, the change in temperature of the ocean surface and the atmosphere are closely related to each other. Secondly, researchers do not have data on the temperature change of the entire ocean. And, thirdly, there is no data on what changes took place in the deep past.
To find out how the ocean is warming, scientists created a model in which atmospheric conditions were stopped at the level of the 1960s, before significant changes associated with anthropogenic influence. Then, each ocean basin went through climate change, while the others stayed the same.
In addition, the scientists determined the effects of atmospheric changes associated with surface wind to determine how much each factor contributes to ocean warming.
These simulations showed that the Southern Ocean, which covers only 15% of the total ocean area, absorbs most of this heat. In fact, only the basin of this ocean is responsible for all the heat absorbed by the oceans, the Pacific and Atlantic oceans give all the heat back to the atmosphere.
The greatest impact of the warming of the Southern Ocean is on the Antarctic krill. When the ocean warms beyond what krill can withstand, its habitat shrinks and it moves further south into colder waters.
Krill are a key link in the food chain, so such movements could affect fish populations, which in turn would negatively affect penguins and whales, which are already at risk of extinction.
Why does the Southern Ocean absorb so much heat? This is due to its geographical location: the strong westerly winds surrounding Antarctica affect an ocean that is not interrupted by land masses.
This means that the winds of the Southern Ocean blow long distances, constantly bringing to the surface masses of cold water.
The cold water is pushed northward, absorbs vast amounts of heat from the warmer atmosphere, and then the excess heat flows deep into the ocean. Both a warmer atmosphere and wind circulation contribute to this absorption.
According to scientists, if you combine all the effects of warming and wind over the Southern Ocean alone, the remaining oceans will match the climate of the 1960s. years, it will be possible to explain almost all global heat absorption by the ocean.
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But this means that other ocean basins are not warming. But the heat they receive locally from the atmosphere cannot explain this warming.
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