2004: Interpretation of recent Antarctic sea ice variability. Geophys

[1] Trends in the satellite-derived Antarctic sea ice concentrations (1979–2002) show pronounced increase (decrease) in the central Pacific sector (Bellingshausen/ western Weddell sector) by 4–10 % per decade. Confidence levels for these regional trends exceed 95%. Positive polarities of the Antarct...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Jiping Liu Judith A. Curry
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
Oceanography
General
Climate and interannual variability (3309
3319 Meteorology and Atmospheric Dynamics
General circulation
Antarctic
Pacific
The Antarctic
Weddell
Antarc*
Sea ice
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.467.8468
http://curry.eas.gatech.edu/currydoc/Liu_GRL31.pdf
Description
Summary:[1] Trends in the satellite-derived Antarctic sea ice concentrations (1979–2002) show pronounced increase (decrease) in the central Pacific sector (Bellingshausen/ western Weddell sector) by 4–10 % per decade. Confidence levels for these regional trends exceed 95%. Positive polarities of the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO) lead to more (less) ice in the eastern Ross/Amundsen sector (Bellingshausen/northern Weddell sector), which are qualitatively opposite to the impacts of positive polarities of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The mechanisms responsible for the covariability between the ice and the (a) AAO and (b) ENSO are demonstrated. Over the last 24 years, a positive AAO trend and a slightly negative ENSO trend produce a spatial pattern of ice changes similar to the regional ice trends. However, the magnitude of the ice changes associated with the AAO and ENSO is much smaller than the regional ice trends. More local (or less understood large) scale processes should be investigated for the explanations. INDEX TERMS: 4215

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