Tootfinder

Rising surface salinity and declining sea ice - a new Southern Ocean state revealed by satellites: #salinity across the circumpolar Southern Ocean since 2015. This shift has weakened upper-ocean stratification, coinciding with a dramatic decline in Antarctic sea ice coverage. Additionally, rising salinity facilitated the reemergence of the Maud Rise polynya in the Weddell Sea, a phenomenon last observed in the mid-1970s. Crucially, we demonstrate that satellites can now monitor these changes in real time, providing essential evidence of the Southern Ocean’s potential transition toward persistently reduced sea ice coverage" -> A change in the Southern Ocean structure can have climate implications: https://www.icm.csic.es/en/news/change-southern-ocean-structure-can-have-climate-implications (the original version of this press release was full of errors as https://bsky.app/profile/mkreutzfeldt.bsky.social/post/3ltednz76r226 has documented but - as https://bsky.app/profile/micefearboggis.bsky.social/post/3ltemt57qhc2u points out - the correction was done in a most intransparent way).