Seals dive deep to solve cold water mystery

• Main Author: Williams, GD
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Australian Online 2013
• Subjects: Earth Sciences; Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience; Glaciology; Antarctic; Cape Darnley; Darnley; Prydz Bay; Antarc*; Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre; Elephant Seals; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://ecite.utas.edu.au/88698

TASMANIAN researchers have solved a 30-year mystery after elephant seals helped them identify a source of Antarctic "bottom water".The extremely cold, dense water is crucial to the earths climate because it drives the conveyor belt of ocean currents which move water between the equatorial and polar regions, distributing heat around the planet.Data from satellites, ocean moorings and tagged elephant seals helped the scientists pinpoint the new source at Cape Darnley in Australias Antarctic territory.Guy Williams, sea-ice specialist with the Hobart-based Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, said the discovery reported today in the journal Nature Geoscience would add to the precision of global climate models.Dr Williams said three Antarctic sources had long been known. A fourth had been suspected following the 1970s discovery of oxygen-rich water in the deep ocean near Prydz bay, due south of India.