<p style="text-align:start"><em>The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica&rsquo;s ice sheets. An international research team led by the Alfred Wegener Institute and the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory have now used sediments taken from the South Pacific to reconstruct the flow speed in the last 5.3 million years. Their data show that during glacial periods, the current slowed; during interglacials, it accelerated. Consequently, if the current global warming intensifies in the future, it could mean that the Southern Ocean stores less CO2 and that more heat reaches Antarctica. The study was just released in the journal&nbsp;</em>Nature<em>.</em></p>

Related Keywords

Antarctica , Gisela Winckler , International Ocean Discovery Program , Columbia University United States , Method Of Research , Helmholtz Centre For Polar , Alfred Wegener Institute , Marine Research , Antarctic Circumpolar Current , Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory , South Pacific , Southern Ocean , West Antarctic Ice , Marine Geology Division , Helmholtz Centre , Antarctic Ice Sheet , Prof Gisela Winckler , Columbia University , United States , Point Nemo , Prof Helge Arz , Leibniz Institute , Baltic Sea Research , Northern Hemisphere , Antarctic Circumpolar ,