A new research has uncovered as to how an ocean current, which is responsible for keeping the western parts of Europe warmer can be altered by cold water from melted ice of the Arctic. Around the western parts of Arctic ocean wind blows the gyre in a clockwise direction around the western Arctic Ocean. This region is north of Canada, where the ocean current naturally collects fresh water from the melting of glaciers, and river runoff.
As per researchers, this fresh water does hold a lot of importance around the Arctic as it floats over warmer and salty water and is responsible for protecting the melting of sea ice, which in turns, helps in the regulation of the climate of the Earth.
The fresh water has been released in the Atlantic Ocean by the gyre for the past decades, thus the atlantic ocean currents did carry small amounts of these waters.
Since the past couple of decades, the accumulation of fresh water in the gyre has been 8,000 cubic kilometres, which is around double the volume of Lake Michigan in the United States.
The reason for this increase in the concentration of fresh water is sea ice loss in both summer and autumn season.
If Beaufort Gyre would release excess fresh water into the Atlantic Ocean, it could slow down its circulation. This would have hemisphere-wide effects for the climate, especially in Western Europe. The study has also warned that fresh water release from Arctic into North Atlantic ocean may even change the surface water density.
Image Credit: carbonbrief.org
