The Southern Ocean, once a steady guardian of Antarctica’s ice, is now changing in surprising ways. Instead of staying cold and fresh, its surface is growing saltier as warm, deep waters rise, melting sea ice and releasing ancient carbon into the air. This shift threatens Antarctic wildlife, like penguins and krill, and could speed up global warming while altering weather far beyond the South Pole. What seemed like a stable natural fortress is now a warning sign of a fragile climate, urging us to act before more damage unfolds.
