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Articles on Southern ocean

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Shutterstock/CherylRamalho

An ocean like no other: the Southern Ocean’s ecological richness and significance for global climate

The Southern (Antarctic) Ocean is our planet’s primary storage of heat and carbon, and it’s home to extraordinary life forms, from tiny algae and spineless creatures to penguins, seals and whales.
Image: Elizabeth Leane

Custodians of Antarctica: how 5 gateway cities are embracing the icy continent

‘Antarctic cities’ residents care deeply about the continent, with environmental concerns outweighing economic priorities. Asked about its future, they feel a mix of hope, pessimism and sadness.
Not all clouds are the same, and climate models have been predicting the wrong kinds of clouds over the Southern Ocean. Kathryn Moore

We caught bacteria from the most pristine air on earth to help solve a climate modeling mystery

Climate models have been overestimating how much sunlight hits the Southern Ocean. This is because the clouds there are different from clouds anywhere else. Bacterial DNA helped us understand why.
During the Pliocene, up to one third of Antarctica’s ice sheet melted, causing sea-level rise of 20 metres. from www.shutterstock.com

If warming exceeds 2°C, Antarctica’s melting ice sheets could raise seas 20 metres in coming centuries

New research shows that warming by more than 2°C could be a tipping point for Antarctica’s ice sheets, resulting in widespread meltdown and changes to the world’s shorelines for centuries to come.
Southern bull kelp can drift huge distances before washing ashore. Ceridwen Fraser

How an alien seaweed invasion spawned an Antarctic mystery

A chance discovery of some kelp that floated for 20,000km before washing up on an Antarctic beach has opened up a new chapter in our understanding of the currents that swirl around the Southern Ocean.

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