Brief communication: The anomalous winter 2019 sea ice conditions in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica

McMurdo Sound sea ice can generally be partitioned into two regimes: (1) a stable fast-ice cover, forming south of approximately 77.6° S around March/April, then breaking out the following January/February; and, (2) a more dynamic region north of 77.6° S that the McMurdo Sound and Ross Sea polynyas...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Leonard, Greg H., Turner, Kate E., Richter, Maren E., Whittaker, Maddy S., Smith, Inga J.
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Ross Sea
McMurdo Sound
Antarc*
Antarctica
Sea ice
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-352
https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-352/
Description
Summary:McMurdo Sound sea ice can generally be partitioned into two regimes: (1) a stable fast-ice cover, forming south of approximately 77.6° S around March/April, then breaking out the following January/February; and, (2) a more dynamic region north of 77.6° S that the McMurdo Sound and Ross Sea polynyas regularly impact. In 2019, a stable fast-ice cover formed unusually late due to repeated breakout events. We analyse the 2019 sea-ice conditions and relate them to southerly wind events using a Katabatic Wind Index (KWI). We find there is a strong correlation between breakout events and several unusually large KWI events.

Similar Items