8 years ago; A hole suddenly appeared in the Weddell Sea, which is part of the Southern Ocean and inserted into the Antarctic Continent.
This huge hole, which surprised scientists, was so big that; It was the size of Switzerland. Let’s find out what the real lining of this hole is.
In 2016, a polynya (an open water area appearing in the middle of glaciers) formed in the Weddell Sea.
This polynya, which attracted the attention of climate researchers and oceanographers, appeared in an area normally covered with a thick layer of ice, and was the first time a polynya of this size was encountered after the 1970s.
In fact, polynyas form in coastal areas and provide habitat for biodiversity, but in the Weddell Sea; It was seen in the open ocean, far from the coast. That’s why it attracted extra attention.
There are several predictions regarding the emergence of polynya in the Weddell Sea.
There is a large submarine mountain in the region where this polynya emerges. This mountain, called Maud Rise, combines with the ocean current to create vertical mixing, creating hot, salty water from the depths to the surface. It is known that the current was stronger between 2015 and 2018. For this reason, warm and salty water may have triggered the formation of polynyas by melting sea ice.
Another trigger may be wind. Strong cyclonic winds can increase mixing on the sea surface, allowing warm water from the depths to reach the surface. The effect of wind, especially in the Weddell Sea, is one of the determining factors of the size and duration of the polynya.
The last guess is thermohaline circulation. Thermohaline circulation, which causes warm and salty water in the ocean to be carried to the surface, paves the way for the displacement of ocean layers due to temperature and salinity differences. As we just mentioned, sea ice can melt and form polynya when the hot water from the depths rises to the surface.
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