North Atlantic cold-water sink (NAO) returns to life: Convective mixing resumes after a decade due to massive loss of Arctic ice

Published online 29 November 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1262

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North Atlantic cold-water sink returns to life

Convective mixing resumes after a decade due to massive loss of Arctic ice.

by Quirin Schiermeier

Scientists have found evidence that convective mixing in the North Atlantic, a mechanism that fuels ocean circulation and affects Earth's climate, has returned after a decade of near stagnation -- thanks, perhaps, to a dramatic loss of sea-ice in the Arctic during the summer of 2007.

Convective mixing, or 'overturning', of ocean waters at high latitudes helps to drive the Atlantic 'heat conveyor belt' that carries warm water northwards and cooler deep-water back south.

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Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2008/081129/full/news.2008.1262.html