Science2 hOctober 25, 2026, 18:07

Study links Northern Hemisphere ice sheets to Southern Ocean carbon storage

Research from the University of St Andrews, published in the Journal of Climate, proposes a mechanism by which growing Northern Hemisphere ice sheets cool North Atlantic waters that travel through global circulation to alter conditions around Antarctica and boost deep-ocean CO2 storage. In simulations, cooling only the northernmost latitudes produced 74% of the atmospheric CO2 reduction seen when the entire planet was cooled.

SciTechDaily

Open source

Study links Northern Hemisphere ice sheets to Southern Ocean carbon storage

Cooling only northern waters produced 74% of the CO2 drop from full-planet cooling
Mechanism connects Northern Hemisphere ice growth to Antarctic ocean circulation
Result comes from an idealized model, not a specific past ice age
The study appeared in the Journal of Climate on October 22, 2026

Marine Snow Viscosity Determines How Much Carbon Reaches Deep Ocean

Science

Ocean Biodiversity Drives Carbon Capture Most — But Evidence Rests on Just Seven Datasets

Science

Study: Enceladus ice grains are sorted on the way out, not a direct ocean sample

Science

Study links Northern Hemisphere ice sheets to Southern Ocean carbon storage

Marine Snow Viscosity Determines How Much Carbon Reaches Deep Ocean

Ocean Biodiversity Drives Carbon Capture Most — But Evidence Rests on Just Seven Datasets

Study: Enceladus ice grains are sorted on the way out, not a direct ocean sample

Ice sheet expansion may have started 2,000 years ago, but we canceled that