equivalent to 12.8 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Studies An expedition in May 2008 by 19 scientists studied the geology and biology of eight Macquarie Ridge sea mounts, as well as the Antarctic Circumpolar Current to investigate the effects of climate change of the Southern Ocean. The circumpolar current merges the waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans and carries up to 150 times the volume of water flowing in all of the world's rivers. The study found that any damage on the cold-water corals nourished by the current will have a long-lasting effect. After studying the circumpolar current it is clear that it strongly influences regional and global climate as well as underwater biodiversity. The subject has been characterized recently as "the spectral peak of the global extra-tropical circulation at ≈ 10^4 kilometers". The current helps preserve wooden shipwrecks by preventing wood-boring "ship worms" from reaching targets such as Ernest Shackleton's ship, the Endurance. References Notes Sources Currents of the Southern Ocean Geography of the Southern Ocean Climate of Chile Subantarctic