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...
Main Authors: | , , , , |
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Format: | Text |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2021
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-2020-352 https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2020-352/ |
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. |
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