Ongoing ocean warming threatens the rich and diverse macrobenthic communities of the Antarctic continental shelf

Global warming is heating the Antarctic circumpolar deep water (CDW), which comes into direct contact with the diverse and abundant macrobenthic communities thriving on the continental shelf of the Weddell Sea (WS). A set of 16 current meters deployed along more than 3000 km coastline revealed that tidal currents drive CDW intrusions onto the WS continental shelf and they can increase the temperature near the seabed by ~2.7 °C. The ongoing ocean...