Southern Ocean's low-salinity Antarctic waters continue absorbing CO₂ despite climate model predictions

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https://phys.org/news/2025-10-southern-ocean-salinity-antarctic-absorbing.html
Climate models suggest that climate change could reduce the Southern Ocean's ability to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2). However, observational data actually shows that this ability has seen no significant decline in recent decades.

In a recent study, researchers from the Alfred Wegener Institute have discovered what may be causing this. Low-salinity water in the upper ocean has typically helped to trap carbon in the deep ocean, which in turn has slowed its release into the atmosphere—until now, that is, because climate change is increasingly altering the Southern Ocean and its function as a carbon sink. The study is published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Oceans absorb around a quarter of all anthropogenic CO2 emissions released into the atmosphere. Of this total, the Southern Ocean alone stores roughly 40%, making it a key region for containing global warming. The Southern Ocean's important role comes about due to the ocean circulation in the region, whereby water masses upwell from deeper levels, are renewed and then return to the depths. This process releases natural CO2 from the deep ocean and absorbs and stores anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere.

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