水下海脊能够限制并影响大洋底部密度大的冷水流。如果没有海脊,深层海水可以自由流动,并加速海洋环流和海洋表面的暖洋流。海洋表面的暖水使得海冰的形成比较困难。没有海冰反射阳光,表面的水会吸收更多的阳光,进一步变暖。美国地质调查局的科学家们回顾了300万年到中上新世暖期的海水温度变化,研究了北大西洋的格陵兰—苏格兰海岭对表面水温的影响。美国地质调查局的科学家Marci Robinson指出:中上新世暖期的北大 Underwater ridges can limit and affect the density of cold water at the bottom of the ocean. Without the ridges, deep sea water can flow freely and speed up ocean circulation and the oceanic surface currents. The warm water on the surface of the ocean makes the formation of sea ice more difficult. No sea ice reflects the sun, the surface of the water will absorb more sunlight, further warming. The scientists at the US Geological Survey reviewed the seawater temperature changes from three million years to the mid-Miocene warmth and studied the effect of the Greenland-Scottish Ridge of the North Atlantic on the surface water temperature. Marci Robinson, a scientist at the United States Geological Survey, points out that during the Miocene warm period, Peking University