HONG KONG: We already know that melting sea ice in the Arctic is bad news. Less ice means less habitat for animals like polar bears, and it also means there are fewer reflective surfaces in the North to bounce sunlight back into space, allowing the planet to absorb more heat. And as global warming continues to warm up the Earth, we’re only going to lose more ice.
A study released this week in Nature Climate Change is drawing attention to yet another ice-related problem — one that could cause some large-scale consequences. According to the study, retreating sea ice could disrupt a major ocean circulation pattern and even affect climate patterns in Europe.
As it turns out, sea ice in the Greenland and Iceland seas is an important player in the workings of a powerful ocean current known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. This current acts as a kind of conveyor belt, carrying warm water from the equator to the poles, and then shuttling cold water back to the tropics where the cycle starts all over again. The Atlantic overturning circulation, in turn, is the Atlantic branch of a much larger global overturning circulation, which shuttles water all over the globe.
When warm water arrives in the North, it becomes involved in a process called ocean convection — the transfer of heat from the water to the air. As heat moves out of the seawater and into the atmosphere, the water starts to cool down. Cold water is denser than warm water, so it sinks toward the bottom of the ocean and joins the “return” leg of the Atlantic overturning circulation conveyor belt, which carries it southward again. This whole process, in which water is carried northward, cools, sinks and returns south, is known as overturning.
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