Unlike the estimates of climate models, American scientists from Stanford University have revealed a mechanism that explains why the water around Antarctica cools down. It was revealed that melting water and precipitation, which was not taken into consideration in the existing calculations, played a key role. The study was published scientifically magazine Geophysical Research Letters (GRL).
In the last 40 years, the Southern Ocean tended to cool, while global climate models foresee heating.
A new study showed that this inconsistency is associated with the formation of a “fresh water cover” due to accelerated melting of glaciers and increasing rainfall.
“The surface layer of the ocean is less salty and concentrated, which prevents mixing with warmer deep waters,” he said.
Scientists have found that the fresh water coming from the coast of Antarctica had a significant effect on the surface temperature of the surface than equally distributed.
The researchers found that the accounting of freshwater factor accounts announced that 60% of the inconsistencies between observations and estimates, using 17 different climatic models.
These results are particularly important to understand the future level of sea and global climate processes, because the Southern Ocean plays an important role in the absorption of heat and carbon dioxide.
Previously, scientists Still Unprecedented changes in Antarctica’s sea ice.
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Source: Gazeta
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