Scientists discover previously unknown currents in the Arctic

Previously unknown currents in the St. Anna Trench were discovered by specialists of the Shirshov Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences together with colleagues from other research institutes. This area of the Kara Sea is key for studying the warming of Arctic waters, and scientists have already made some interesting conclusions, mk.ru reports.
Researchers have found that the Arctic is warming much faster than other regions of the planet. If the average temperature on the planet has increased by 1 degree since the beginning of the industrial era, then in the Arctic this increase was 2-3 degrees. Such a significant warming affects the melting of ice – since the end of the XX century, their area has been decreasing by 13% every ten years.
Scientists have conducted a detailed study of the circulation of water in the St. Anna trench. This is a kind of "bottleneck" through which most of the warm waters from the North Atlantic get into the Arctic basin.
A previously unknown surface current with a length of 600 km was discovered, which begins from Novaya Zemlya and flows north along the St. Anna trench. It is fed by warmer waters of the central part of the Kara Sea. Due to this warm current, the ice in the eastern part of the trench melts earlier in summer and forms later in autumn than in the surrounding waters of the Kara Sea.
Scientists have found that less warm water flows from the St. Anna trench to the central part of the Arctic than previously thought. Thus, Arctic warming has a more complex scenario that has yet to be understood,  mk.ru notes.

Alex Shishlo for Rough&Polished