Matthew England, climate professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), who co-ordinated the study, said that if the model is correct, the deep ocean current would be “on a trajectory that leads to collapse”.
Billions of tons of cold, highly salty and oxygen-rich water sink around Antarctica every year, sending deep water currents northward into the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans, scientists say.
The greater amount of ice melt makes Antarctic waters less dense and saltier, however, slowing the circulation of deep water with consequences for climate, sea level and marine ecosystems.
“If oceans had lungs, this would be one of them,” England said.