The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design
As the climate warms, the grounded ice sheet and floating ice shelves surrounding Antarctica are melting and releasing additional freshwater into the Southern Ocean. Nonetheless, almost all existing coupled climate models have fixed ice sheets and lack the physics required to represent the dominant...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023 https://doaj.org/article/1fc3a6a5e47f4fb4b2e95ffd97f42b41 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:1fc3a6a5e47f4fb4b2e95ffd97f42b41 2024-01-21T09:59:40+01:00 The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design N. C. Swart T. Martin R. Beadling J.-J. Chen C. Danek M. H. England R. Farneti S. M. Griffies T. Hattermann J. Hauck F. A. Haumann A. Jüling Q. Li J. Marshall M. Muilwijk A. G. Pauling A. Purich I. J. Smith M. Thomas 2023-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023 https://doaj.org/article/1fc3a6a5e47f4fb4b2e95ffd97f42b41 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/7289/2023/gmd-16-7289-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1991-959X https://doaj.org/toc/1991-9603 doi:10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023 1991-959X 1991-9603 https://doaj.org/article/1fc3a6a5e47f4fb4b2e95ffd97f42b41 Geoscientific Model Development, Vol 16, Pp 7289-7309 (2023) Geology QE1-996.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023 2023-12-24T01:45:34Z As the climate warms, the grounded ice sheet and floating ice shelves surrounding Antarctica are melting and releasing additional freshwater into the Southern Ocean. Nonetheless, almost all existing coupled climate models have fixed ice sheets and lack the physics required to represent the dominant sources of Antarctic melt. These missing ice dynamics represent a key uncertainty that is typically unaccounted for in current global climate change projections. Previous modelling studies that have imposed additional Antarctic meltwater have demonstrated regional impacts on Southern Ocean stratification, circulation, and sea ice, as well as remote changes in atmospheric circulation, tropical precipitation, and global temperature. However, these previous studies have used widely varying rates of freshwater forcing, have been conducted using different climate models and configurations, and have reached differing conclusions on the magnitude of meltwater–climate feedbacks. The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) initiative brings together a team of scientists to quantify the climate system response to Antarctic meltwater input along with key aspects of the uncertainty. In this paper, we summarize the state of knowledge on meltwater discharge from the Antarctic ice sheet and ice shelves to the Southern Ocean and explain the scientific objectives of our initiative. We propose a series of coupled and ocean–sea ice model experiments, including idealized meltwater experiments, historical experiments with observationally consistent meltwater input, and future scenarios driven by meltwater inputs derived from stand-alone ice sheet models. Through coordinating a multi-model ensemble of simulations using a common experimental design, open data archiving, and facilitating scientific collaboration, SOFIA aims to move the community toward better constraining our understanding of the climate system response to Antarctic melt. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Sea ice Southern Ocean Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Geoscientific Model Development 16 24 7289 7309 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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English |
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Geology QE1-996.5 |
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Geology QE1-996.5 N. C. Swart T. Martin R. Beadling J.-J. Chen C. Danek M. H. England R. Farneti S. M. Griffies T. Hattermann J. Hauck F. A. Haumann A. Jüling Q. Li J. Marshall M. Muilwijk A. G. Pauling A. Purich I. J. Smith M. Thomas The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design |
topic_facet |
Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
As the climate warms, the grounded ice sheet and floating ice shelves surrounding Antarctica are melting and releasing additional freshwater into the Southern Ocean. Nonetheless, almost all existing coupled climate models have fixed ice sheets and lack the physics required to represent the dominant sources of Antarctic melt. These missing ice dynamics represent a key uncertainty that is typically unaccounted for in current global climate change projections. Previous modelling studies that have imposed additional Antarctic meltwater have demonstrated regional impacts on Southern Ocean stratification, circulation, and sea ice, as well as remote changes in atmospheric circulation, tropical precipitation, and global temperature. However, these previous studies have used widely varying rates of freshwater forcing, have been conducted using different climate models and configurations, and have reached differing conclusions on the magnitude of meltwater–climate feedbacks. The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) initiative brings together a team of scientists to quantify the climate system response to Antarctic meltwater input along with key aspects of the uncertainty. In this paper, we summarize the state of knowledge on meltwater discharge from the Antarctic ice sheet and ice shelves to the Southern Ocean and explain the scientific objectives of our initiative. We propose a series of coupled and ocean–sea ice model experiments, including idealized meltwater experiments, historical experiments with observationally consistent meltwater input, and future scenarios driven by meltwater inputs derived from stand-alone ice sheet models. Through coordinating a multi-model ensemble of simulations using a common experimental design, open data archiving, and facilitating scientific collaboration, SOFIA aims to move the community toward better constraining our understanding of the climate system response to Antarctic melt. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
N. C. Swart T. Martin R. Beadling J.-J. Chen C. Danek M. H. England R. Farneti S. M. Griffies T. Hattermann J. Hauck F. A. Haumann A. Jüling Q. Li J. Marshall M. Muilwijk A. G. Pauling A. Purich I. J. Smith M. Thomas |
author_facet |
N. C. Swart T. Martin R. Beadling J.-J. Chen C. Danek M. H. England R. Farneti S. M. Griffies T. Hattermann J. Hauck F. A. Haumann A. Jüling Q. Li J. Marshall M. Muilwijk A. G. Pauling A. Purich I. J. Smith M. Thomas |
author_sort |
N. C. Swart |
title |
The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design |
title_short |
The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design |
title_full |
The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design |
title_fullStr |
The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design |
title_full_unstemmed |
The Southern Ocean Freshwater Input from Antarctica (SOFIA) Initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design |
title_sort |
southern ocean freshwater input from antarctica (sofia) initiative: scientific objectives and experimental design |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023 https://doaj.org/article/1fc3a6a5e47f4fb4b2e95ffd97f42b41 |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Sea ice Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet Ice Shelves Sea ice Southern Ocean |
op_source |
Geoscientific Model Development, Vol 16, Pp 7289-7309 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/7289/2023/gmd-16-7289-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1991-959X https://doaj.org/toc/1991-9603 doi:10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023 1991-959X 1991-9603 https://doaj.org/article/1fc3a6a5e47f4fb4b2e95ffd97f42b41 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-7289-2023 |
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Geoscientific Model Development |
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16 |
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24 |
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7289 |
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7309 |
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