Estimating summer sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century
Over the past 3 decades, discordant trends in sea ice extent have been observed between the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Arctic sea ice extent has been characterised by a rapid decline, whereas Antarctic sea ice extent, while highly variable interannually, has tended to increase. Climate models hav...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1905-2023 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/19/1905/2023/ |
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ftcopernicus:oai:publications.copernicus.org:cp109522 2023-11-12T04:08:27+01:00 Estimating summer sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century Love, Eleanor Bigg, Grant R. 2023-10-10 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1905-2023 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/19/1905/2023/ eng eng doi:10.5194/cp-19-1905-2023 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/19/1905/2023/ eISSN: 1814-9332 Text 2023 ftcopernicus https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1905-2023 2023-10-16T16:24:16Z Over the past 3 decades, discordant trends in sea ice extent have been observed between the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Arctic sea ice extent has been characterised by a rapid decline, whereas Antarctic sea ice extent, while highly variable interannually, has tended to increase. Climate models have so far failed to capture these trends. Coupled with the limited pre-1970 sea ice dataset, this poses a significant challenge to quantifying the mechanisms responsible for driving such trends. However, historical records from early Antarctic expeditions contain a wealth of information regarding the nature and concentration of sea ice. Such records have been underutilised, and their analysis may enhance our understanding of recent Antarctic sea ice variability. For the purpose of this study, nine records from eight Antarctic expeditions have been examined. Summer sea ice positions recorded during 1820–1843 have been compared to satellite observations from 1987–2017, as well as historical data for the period 1897–1917. Through analysis of these three time series, estimates for the northern limits of summer sea ice in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century have been produced. The key findings of this study indicate a 19th century average core summer northernmost sea ice latitude in much of the Weddell Sea that was further north than during the modern era, with 19th century February having significantly more sea ice by all measures. However, late summer sea ice was most extensive in the early years of the 20th century. Text Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Sea ice Weddell Sea Copernicus Publications: E-Journals Arctic Antarctic Weddell Sea Weddell Climate of the Past 19 10 1905 1917 |
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Copernicus Publications: E-Journals |
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English |
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Over the past 3 decades, discordant trends in sea ice extent have been observed between the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Arctic sea ice extent has been characterised by a rapid decline, whereas Antarctic sea ice extent, while highly variable interannually, has tended to increase. Climate models have so far failed to capture these trends. Coupled with the limited pre-1970 sea ice dataset, this poses a significant challenge to quantifying the mechanisms responsible for driving such trends. However, historical records from early Antarctic expeditions contain a wealth of information regarding the nature and concentration of sea ice. Such records have been underutilised, and their analysis may enhance our understanding of recent Antarctic sea ice variability. For the purpose of this study, nine records from eight Antarctic expeditions have been examined. Summer sea ice positions recorded during 1820–1843 have been compared to satellite observations from 1987–2017, as well as historical data for the period 1897–1917. Through analysis of these three time series, estimates for the northern limits of summer sea ice in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century have been produced. The key findings of this study indicate a 19th century average core summer northernmost sea ice latitude in much of the Weddell Sea that was further north than during the modern era, with 19th century February having significantly more sea ice by all measures. However, late summer sea ice was most extensive in the early years of the 20th century. |
format |
Text |
author |
Love, Eleanor Bigg, Grant R. |
spellingShingle |
Love, Eleanor Bigg, Grant R. Estimating summer sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century |
author_facet |
Love, Eleanor Bigg, Grant R. |
author_sort |
Love, Eleanor |
title |
Estimating summer sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century |
title_short |
Estimating summer sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century |
title_full |
Estimating summer sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century |
title_fullStr |
Estimating summer sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century |
title_full_unstemmed |
Estimating summer sea ice extent in the Weddell Sea during the early 19th century |
title_sort |
estimating summer sea ice extent in the weddell sea during the early 19th century |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1905-2023 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/19/1905/2023/ |
geographic |
Arctic Antarctic Weddell Sea Weddell |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Antarctic Weddell Sea Weddell |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Sea ice Weddell Sea |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Arctic Sea ice Weddell Sea |
op_source |
eISSN: 1814-9332 |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/cp-19-1905-2023 https://cp.copernicus.org/articles/19/1905/2023/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1905-2023 |
container_title |
Climate of the Past |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1905 |
op_container_end_page |
1917 |
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1782328745544122368 |