Generally, low salinity from seasonal ice melt and freshwater river output characterizes bottom water produced in the Antarctic.
However, during colder months, the formation of sea ice is a crucial process that raises the salinity of bottom water through brine rejection.
Bottom waters flow very slowly, driven mainly by slope topography and differences in temperature and salinity, especially compared to wind-driven surface ocean currents.
Deep Western Boundary Currents carry the Antarctic Bottom Water northward in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The Antarctic Bottom Water shifts east when it reaches the equator, thus turning it into an eastern boundary current along the mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Antarctic Bottom Water has such high oxygen content that it is able to contribute to the ventilation of the deep ocean by acting as a circulatory system.
The decreased density leads to a slower rate of convection ultimately slowing down deep water formation processes.
[4] [5] Bottom water by an estuary of a river discharging into a saline body exhibits peculiar transport of mud.