What is Southern Ocean circulation?
The Southern Ocean encircles Antarctica, dividing the polar regions from the warm tropical ocean. It is home to the world’s strongest ocean current, the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and is the primary location where ancient, deep ocean water is upwelled to the surface.
What is overturning in oceanography?
The global overturning of ocean waters involves the equatorward transport of cold, deep waters and the poleward transport of warm, near-surface waters. Such movement creates a net poleward transport of heat that, in partnership with the atmosphere, establishes the global and regional climates.
How is the Southern Ocean changing?
The Southern Ocean has been rapidly changing over the past decades with widespread consequences for the global climate. It has stored an outsized amount of heat associated with climate change that has been extracted from the atmosphere and stored in its subsurface water-masses1,2.
Why the meridional overturning circulation is important?
The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation plays a crucial role in redistributing heat and salt throughout the global oceans. Achieving a more complete understanding of the behavior of the MOC system requires a comprehensive observational network that spans the entire Atlantic basin.
When did Southern Ocean become a thing?
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) officials said the federal agency recognized the body as the fifth ocean in 1999, when the U.S. Board on Geographic Names approved the name “Southern Ocean.”
What is special about the Southern Ocean?
The Southern Ocean is the world’s fourth-largest ocean. Surrounding the South Pole and Antarctica, it is the only ocean that goes all the way around the globe. Parts of the ocean freeze in winter, forming huge sheets of ice.
How is AMOC measured?
The AMOC at 16°N is calculated as the deep southward-flowing transport (60.5–51.5°W) between 1,200 and 4,950 dbar. The transport is computed as the sum of the boundary and internal components, from current meters and dynamic height, respectively.
What is ocean stability?
When scientists talk about ocean stability, they refer to how much the different layers of the sea mix with each other. A recent study analysed over a million samples and found that, over the past five decades, the stability of the ocean increased at a rate that was six times faster than scientists were anticipating.
What would happen if the Southern Ocean warmed up?
The increased freshwater input in the high latitudes of the Southern Ocean would decrease the upper ocean salinity (density), leading to a more stable thermohaline stratification and weakened convective overturning. This reduces the upward ocean heat flux available to melt sea ice.
What are 5 facts about the Southern Ocean?
Southern Ocean Facts for Kids
- Ocean Name: Southern Ocean.
- Location: Surrounds Antarctica.
- Average Depth: 10,872 feet.
- Total Surface Area: 8.4 million mi2
- Total Coastline: 11,164 miles.
- Total Volume of Water: 17.2 million mi3
How many years till climate change is irreversible?
There is some indication the system has experienced a gradual weakening over the past few decades, and it may be critically unstable. Lenton’s research suggests that if global temperatures continue to rise, the AMOC could collapse in 50 to 250 years.
What will happen if Gulf Stream collapses?
The widespread consequences of a drastic weakening of the AMOC include rapid sea-level rise on the eastern coast of North America, cooling over Europe that could disrupt agriculture, a parched Amazon rainforest and disruption of Asian monsoons.
Why is the Southern Ocean not navigable?
Answer: The rivers of Peninsular India are not suitable for navigation as they flow swiftly over the plateaus and highlands. The peninsular rivers of the south have their source in the Western Ghats and flow across hills making a number of waterfalls, which are not navigable, but provide Hydro-electricity.
What was the Southern Ocean originally called?
the Antarctic Ocean
The Southern Ocean, also known as the South Polar Ocean (and formerly the Antarctic Ocean), is the body of water encircling the continent of Antarctica.
What are 3 interesting facts about the Southern Ocean?
20 Southern Ocean Facts for Kids
The Southern Ocean contains 5.4% of all the world’s ocean water. The Southern Ocean is the second smallest of all five oceans. The total surface area of the Southern Ocean is 8.4 million mi2. The average depth of the Southern Ocean is 10,872 feet.
Why do we need a Southern Ocean?
The Southern Ocean connects three major ocean basins, and is vitally important in driving global ocean circulation and climate. It is the only ocean that completely encircles the planet uninterrupted by any significant land mass and is strongly affected by sea ice coverage.
What will happen if the Gulf Stream collapses?
Is the ocean getting better?
A recent study analysed over a million samples and found that, over the past five decades, the stability of the ocean increased at a rate that was six times faster than scientists were anticipating.
Why is ocean stratification bad?
More stably stratified waters tend to inhibit the wind-driven mixing up of cold deeper waters that often serves as a sort of release-valve, shutting off the source of energy at the surface that intensifies these storms. A more stably stratified ocean potentially favors more intense, destructive hurricanes.
Is the Southern Ocean cooling?
Abstract. Despite global warming, SSTs in the Southern Ocean (SO) have cooled in recent decades largely as a result of internal variability.
What is unique about the Southern Ocean?
The Southern Ocean is the youngest ocean as it was formed ‘only’ 30 million years ago when South America and Antarctica moved apart. 3. Size: How big is the Southern Ocean? The Southern Ocean is the fourth biggest (or second smallest) ocean on earth and covers only 6% of the earth’s surface.
Why is the Southern Ocean unique?
As described in National Geographic by NOAA marine scientist Seth Sykora-Bodie, the Southern Ocean is unique in that “the glaciers are bluer, the air colder, the mountains more intimidating and the landscapes more captivating than anywhere else you can go.”
How many years do we have left to save the Earth 2020?
We Have 10 Years Left to Save the World, Says Climate Expert.
Is it too late to stop global warming?
“While it’s true we can never go back to the stable, benign climate that enabled us to flourish for the past 10,000 years…we can reach a new stable state.” There is no going back. No matter what we do now, it’s too late to avoid climate change.
What happens to Europe if Gulf Stream stops?
The Gulf Stream brings warm water from the tropics to north-west Europe, helping to moderate the climate. If the Gulf Stream collapses, the study found that temperatures in the UK would drop by an average of 3.4°C.