The Antarctic Ocean has been experiencing the strongest winds for a thousand years

ArabiaWeather.com- Scientists said Monday that the winds blowing the Antarctic Ocean have not been so strong in a thousand years, fueled by climate change and the increasing rate of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The study conducted by the "Australian National University" (ANU) showed that the winds in the frozen Southern Ocean, whose "snarling forties" terrorized generations of seasoned sailors, "are stronger today than at any time in a thousand years."

"The increase in wind strength was evident, especially in the last 70 years, and with the combination of all that we have observed with climate simulations, we can clearly link this phenomenon to the increase in the rate of gases that cause the effect of greenhouse".

The westerly wind, which avoids the eastern coasts of Antarctica by circumventing it, sweeps away increasing amounts of cold air as its strength increases, depriving Australia, which suffers from a continuous rise in temperatures with periods of drought and fires, of the rain it needs.

And the scientist says: "Antarctica defies the prevailing trend. All other continents are getting hotter, while the Arctic is the one that is witnessing the greatest rate of warming." To reach these conclusions, the researchers took ice samples in Antarctica and analyzed tree growth circles in South America as well as the development of lake waters in this continent.

These data were processed after that in the large computer of the University of "ANU", but the climatic development in Antarctica is uneven due to the complex effect of winds and currents.

While central Antarctica remains cool, westerly winds are warming the peninsula alarmingly, altering the local ecosystem with significant declines in penguin numbers, for example. Stephen Phipps of the University of New South Wales explains that human activity is largely responsible for these changes.

Since the seventies, the situation has deteriorated with the expansion of the ozone hole due to emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) used in industries, and Stephen Phipps confirms, saying: "Even with a moderate climate scenario, this trend will continue in the twenty-first century."