Overview

• The peer‑reviewed Nature Communications study reconstructs past flow from grain‑size analyses of deep sediment cores retrieved in 2019 by the JOIDES Resolution in the Scotia Sea.
• Proxy evidence indicates the current shifted at least five degrees of latitude toward the South Pole—about 600 km—potentially bringing warmer waters nearer Antarctic ice sheets and helping explain last‑interglacial sea levels of 6–9 meters.
• The authors link the speedup and displacement to a unique alignment of Earth’s orbital eccentricity and axial cycles that likely strengthened Southern Hemisphere westerlies driving the current.
• The team cautions that distinguishing natural orbital variability from human‑driven change remains critical for forecasting future shifts and calls for combining paleo records with targeted climate models.
• A separate modeling study reported in the media projects an additional ~20% slowdown by 2050 under human‑caused warming and meltwater input, a scenario experts warn could weaken carbon uptake and disrupt ecosystems.