Antarctic ice is rapidly melting and can adversely impact the global climate 

There is no doubt that global warming is the major cause of climate change. In this regard, a team of Australian scientists have conducted a research that was recently published in the journal Nature and reveals that the Antarctic ice is rapidly melting and can severely impact the global climate. In fact, it may cause a rapid slowdown (up to 40 percent) of deep oceanic current (located 4000 metres below the surface) worldwide by 2050 that will in turn change the climate for worse, by accelerating a rise in sea level, influencing weather patterns and starving of aquatic life. 

In fact, these deep oceanic currents that are now being disrupted due to global heating have been relatively stable for centuries. However, due to rising greenhouse gas emissions, they have been slowing down and will continue to do so in the upcoming years.  

These deep oceanic currents originate in cold, fresh and dense waters that pass on from Antarctic continental shelf to the rest of the ocean basins worldwide. But now, with respect to the current trajectory, it seems that the whole oceanic ecosystem is up for collapse. This has been revealed by Professor Matt England based at University of South Wales’ Climate Change Research Centre and the lead author of the study.  

Sources cite that earlier, the deep oceanic current and their circulation as fresh water from melting ice to colder, denser and less saltier water near the Antarctic sea bed used to take millennium or more to shift, but now has been happening speedily over just a few decades. In fact, the slowing down is way faster than previously imagined.  

So, how all will it affect the global climate? For starters, the entire global water mass will be significantly reduced. Next, it can reduce the ocean’s ability to suck in excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. What else? Europe will experience worse climate fluctuations, with one part becoming warmer and the other colder.  

If you must know, the team of scientists used two years’ worth of data to create climate models that showed that deep water circulation in the Antarctic region could slow at double the rate, in comparison to how it was doing a decade back. In fact, being alarmed by the revelations from their latest study, the researchers have pleaded the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) to factor in this development on priority.  

As for the mitigation, the team thinks that proactive measures to control greenhouse gas emissions will play a significant role in countering the deep oceanic current’s super slowing circulation.  

Dr. Qian Li, another lead author of the study based at Massachusetts Institute of Technology also mentioned that the slowdown can also vastly change the oceanic overturning of heat, fresh water, oxygen supply, and availability of carbon and nutrients, with the effects being felt for years to come on the global climate.  It can also alter the rainfall patterns and completely reverse the marine food chain that in turn sustains the food web that humans are part of. It will further affect the production and growth of phytoplankton in absence of proper nutrients. And all these together will affect the global climate at large.