Super salty water leaking from the Indian Ocean may have helped end the last ice age

The salty current flooded into the South Atlantic via the Agulhas Leakage, which snakes around the tip of Africa. (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Extremely salty water flooding into the Atlantic Ocean from the Indian Ocean may have contributed to the end of the last ice age 15,000 years ago, researchers have found.

Propelled by a change in winds and currents towards the end of the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 11,700 years ago), the salty stream snaked around the tip of Africa in an inflow of water known as the Agulhas Leakage, which merges with the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic. Once there, the huge salt delivery likely triggered changes in ocean circulation systems that help to regulate the climate, according to the researchers.