Ozone Hole-Induced Changes In Winds May Weaken Southern Ocean As Potential Carbon Sink

[hatrack]

High above Antarctica, the atmosphere is slowly recovering from the decades-long barrage of manmade chemicals that ate a hole in the protective ozone layer. But the legacy of that destruction lingers. Scientists have linked the ozone hole that forms each Antarctic spring high above Earth to changes in the fierce band of westerly winds that swirls around Antarctica. Those winds, closer to the continent's surface, have grown stronger and moved poleward over the past several decades.

And now a new study suggests that the ozone hole has an even broader reach. It finds evidence those shifting winds are speeding circulation patterns in polar waters. That shift is important because it may already be weakening the Southern Ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and slow the march of manmade climate change.

Even a small change in the Southern Ocean carbon sink could have a noticeable impact, because the region's waters takes in about 40 percent of the total carbon absorbed by the world's seas.

"The models were indicating there could be some change in ocean circulation (caused by ozone depletion), but there was a lot of debate about whether what the models were saying was actually happening," said lead author Darryn Waugh, a climate scientist at Johns Hopkins University.

EDIT

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/ozone-holes-shifting-winds-may-be-sapping-major-carbon-sink-15530

[Nihil]

1. And the good news just keeps coming doesn't it?

> Even a small change in the Southern Ocean carbon sink could have a noticeable impact,
> because the region's waters takes in about 40 percent of the total carbon absorbed by
> the world's seas.

Thanks for posting it but Hell is it a disturbing piece of news ...