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Climate crisis: Scientists ‘identify missing link’ in formation of ice ages - The Independent

Climate crisis: Scientists ‘identify missing link’ in formation of ice ages - The Independent

Climate crisis: Scientists ‘identify missing link’ in formation of ice ages - The Independent
Jan 13, 2021 1 min, 50 secs

Movement of Antarctic icebergs could disrupt ocean currents and pull huge volume of greenhouse gases out of atmosphere, study suggests.

Researchers have suggested that when certain conditions are in place, the melting of Antarctic icebergs could play a large, and previously unrecognised role in driving the onset of ice ages.

This process means huge volumes of freshwater are moved away from the Southern Ocean and into the Atlantic Ocean.

As the Southern Ocean gets saltier and the North Atlantic gets fresher, large-scale ocean circulation patterns begin to dramatically change, pulling CO2 out of the atmosphere and reducing the so-called greenhouse effect.

The team identified tiny fragments of Antarctic rock dropped in the open ocean by melting icebergs.

The team found the occurrence of these deposits, known as “ice-rafted debris”, appeared to consistently be associated with changes in deep ocean circulation, reconstructed from the chemistry of tiny deep-sea fossils called foraminifera.

Such a leading role for the Southern Ocean and Antarctica in global climate has been speculated but seeing it so clearly in geological evidence was very exciting.”.

Professor Ian Hall, co-author of the study and co-chief scientist of the IODP expedition, also from the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said: “Our results provide the missing link into how Antarctica and the Southern Ocean responded to the natural rhythms of the climate system associated with our orbit around the Sun.”.

As temperatures rise, the Southern Ocean will likely become too warm for Antarctic icebergs to travel far enough to trigger the changes in ocean circulation required for an ice age to develop.

“As we observe an increase in the mass loss from the Antarctic continent and iceberg activity in the Southern Ocean resulting from warming associated with current human greenhouse-gas emissions, our study emphasises the importance of understanding iceberg trajectories and melt patterns in developing the most robust predictions of their future impact on ocean circulation and climate,” he said.

Professor Grant Bigg, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography, who contributed to the iceberg model simulations, said: “The groundbreaking modelling of icebergs within the climate model is crucial for identifying and supporting the ice-rafted debris hypothesis of Antarctic iceberg meltwater impacts which are leading glacial cycle onsets.”.

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