(Credit: NOAA) A layer of Antarctic Bottom Water colder than 0ºC (colors, with darkest blue areas having the thickest layer, and white none) covers the ocean floor around Antarctica (center, shaded grey). Rates at which this layer is thinning during the study period (red numbers in meters per decade) are shown for for each deep basin (outlined by thin grey lines). These rates are estimated using data from repeated oceanographic expeditions (ship tracks shown by thick black lines). Note that seawater at the ocean surface stays liquid even at temperatures approaching -2ºC because of its high salt content.
Oceanographers have found that Antarctic “Bottom Water”, the coldest deep ocean water, has been disappearing at an average rate of about 8 million metric tons per second over the past few decades. This new study suggests that significantly less of this bottom water has been formed during that time than in previous decades. The School of Oceanography‘s Sarah Purkey and Gregory Johnson are co-authors of this study. Read more here!
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