Scientist Concerned about the Fate of the World in a Recent Study

Scientists are concerned about the rapidly melting Antarctic ice , and did not just credit it to rising sea levels alone or pollution alone, but also due to the slowing down the circulation of deep ocean water with vast implications for marine life.

This was confirmed by Scientists from University of New South Wales, in a research that its findings were published in the journal Nature. Their findings revealed the impact of melting Antarctic ice on deep ocean currents that work to flush nutrients from the sea floor to fish near the surface.

The modeling stated the Antarctic overturning circulation – also known as abyssal ocean overturning – is on track to slow 42% by 2050 if the world continues to burn fossil fuels and produce high levels of planet-heating pollution. And a slow-down will only speed up ice melt and potentially end an ocean system that has helped sustain life for thousands of years.

“The projections we have made it look like the Antarctic overturning would collapse this century,” said Matthew England, deputy director of the Australian Research Council’s Centre for Excellence in Antarctic Science, who coordinated the study.

“In the past, these overturning circulations changed over the course of 1,000 years or so, and we’re talking about changes within a few decades. So it is pretty dramatic,” he said.

What most people don’t know is that, water circulation in deep ocean is not only vital to the health of the ocean, it is vital to the sequestering carbon adsorbed from the atmosphere. Therefore a slower circulation of dense water in the Antarctic means the warm up of the deepest waters of the Southern Ocean.

“One of the concerning things of this slowdown is that there can be feedback to further ocean warming at the base of the ice shelves around Antarctica. And that would lead to more ice melt, reinforcing or amplifying the original change,” England said.

Even though this does not affect the vast majority of the world, we should also keep in mind that what affects one part of the world, affects the whole world. Climate change is real and dangerous to the inhabitants of the world, so whatever we do in our own corner to make it better for us, let’s do it, join hands and do it so that we can live in a fresh and clean world and leave it for the people coming after us.

 

Linda-Claudia Uke. African Ngo news

 

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