Dear MEL Topic Readers,
The world's strongest ocean current should be getting faster – instead, it is at risk of failing
The Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) is a wind-driven surface oceanic current encircling Antarctica that flows clockwise from west to east. It’s like a moat around the icy continent that helps to keep warm water away from Antarctica’s ice sheets and protect its biodiversity from invasive species. As the strong current connects the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans like a conveyor belt, it also plays a vital role in regulating the global climate. New research has found that this current is slowing as cool water from melting Antactica’s ice dilutes the salty water of the ocean, allowing warmer water to come closer to Antarctica and melt its ice shelves. This ice-melting and weakened circumpolar current spiral would further weaken the ocean’s ability to regulate climate change and disrupt global climate patterns. Studying this remote and vast ocean current seems to help us learn more about global climate, but reducing fossil fuel emissions is more essential and imminent to curb global warming.
Read the article and learn what the Antarctic Circumpolar Current is about and what it does to the global climate.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20250303-the-worlds-strongest-ocean-current-is-at-risk
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