Washington-SANA
American scientists have discovered that freshwater in the Arctic Ocean has increased by 40 percent over the past two decades.
According to Nature Communications, researchers from the University of Washington, Los Alamos National Laboratory and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tracked how fresh water spread in the Beaufort Sea between 1983 and 1995 and it became clear to them that the bulk of this water reached the Labrador Sea via the Canadian archipelago in the Arctic, which led To decrease the salinity of the Labrador Sea by 0.2 to 0.4 parts per thousand.
The researchers explained that the increase in fresh water is a result of melting arctic ice and is presently above the salt water and thanks to the winds remaining in the Beaufort Sea, forming a kind of water dome, noting that if the intensity of the winds dwindles, it will penetrate into the North Atlantic and Labrador Sea, which will affect the large ocean currents in The Atlantic Ocean as well as the warm and cold water cycle.
The researchers pointed out that the volume of fresh water in the Beaufort Sea has now doubled, equivalent to 23 thousand cubic kilometers. Although it is not possible to estimate the effect of a freshwater "bomb" in the Atlantic Ocean, scientists believe that it will have a serious impact on the climate of the Northern Hemisphere.
