Sources of low-frequency variability in observed Antarctic sea ice ...

Antarctic sea ice has exhibited significant variability over the satellite record, including a period of prolonged and gradual expansion, as well as a period of sudden decline. A number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain this variability, but how each mechanism manifests spatially and tempo...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Bonan, David B., Dörr, Jakob, Wills, Robert C.J., Thompson, Andrew F., Årthun, Marius
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: ETH Zurich 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://dx.doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000673624
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11850/673624
Description
Summary:Antarctic sea ice has exhibited significant variability over the satellite record, including a period of prolonged and gradual expansion, as well as a period of sudden decline. A number of mechanisms have been proposed to explain this variability, but how each mechanism manifests spatially and temporally remains poorly understood. Here, we use a statistical method called low-frequency component analysis to analyze the spatiotemporal structure of observed Antarctic sea ice concentration variability. The identified patterns reveal distinct modes of low-frequency sea ice variability. The leading mode, which accounts for the large-scale, gradual expansion of sea ice, is associated with the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation and resembles the observed sea surface temperature trend pattern that climate models have trouble reproducing. The second mode is associated with the central Pacific El Ni & ntilde;o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Southern Annular Mode and accounts for most of the sea ice variability ... : The Cryosphere, 18 (4) ...