Quo vadis Antarctic bottom water?

The formation of deep water, which is an important component of the climate system, takes place in only a few parts of the ocean: In the subpolar North Atlantic and in a few places in the Southern Hemisphere. There, the so-called Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is formed. While today AABW is circulating northwards into the other ocean basins, results of a new study show, that this was different under extreme climatic conditions in the past.