Environment

Slowing Ocean Currents

The deep ocean currents that carry vital heat, oxygen and nutrients around the world are slowing down around Antarctica in a trend scientists warn could have a massive effect on climate.

Australian scientists say the trend is caused by rapidly melting Antarctic ice, which is flooding the surrounding ocean with less salty and less dense water, reducing the typical downward movements of the currents around the icy continent. Those currents are only part of a vast system of important currents around the world that affect temperatures and precipitation.