Scientists found the missing puzzle piece in the 50-year-old mystery of the sea-ice opening, or polynya, in the Southern Ocean.
Scientists have discovered the missing fragment of the Maud Rise polynya puzzle, providing a full picture of the mystery at last. The mysterious Maud Rise polynya is named after an oceanic plateau in the Weddell Sea, plunging to depths of about 1,000 meters.
Polynyas are areas of open water surrounded by sea ice. The Maud Rise polynya was noticed for the first time in 1974. The polynya does not appear every year, making it both more challenging and interesting to research. Luckily, it showed up in 2016 and 2017. “The polynya has not opened up again since 2017. The last time we had such a long-lived and large polynya was in the 1970s.
Diving into the mystery of the polynya, they found that its formation involves the participation of three key elements— wind, ocean currents, and the uniqueness of the ocean floor. These aid in the transport of heat and salt towards the surface. During the period when the polynya appears, a stronger current emerges around the Weddell Sea, and with it rises a long column of warm, salty water. This facilitates the exchange of salts and heat in the surface water, as oceanographer Fabien Roquet. However, as the ice melts, it should stop mixing. This led them to the idea that there is another process that introduces salt.which could explain the hole’s persistence.
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