Intense ocean freshening from melting glacier around the Antarctica during early twenty-first century

Abstract With the accelerating mass loss of Antarctic ice sheets, the freshening of the Southern Ocean coastal oceans (SOc, seas around Antarctica) is gradually intensifying, which will reduce the formation of bottom water and weaken the meridional overturning circulation, thus having a significant...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Scientific Reports
Main Authors: Xianliang L. Pan, Bofeng F. Li, Yutaka W. Watanabe
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2022
Subjects:
R
Q
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04231-6
https://doaj.org/article/2081bf92a00e4f51a69c2a2b49e8803c
id ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2081bf92a00e4f51a69c2a2b49e8803c
record_format openpolar
spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:2081bf92a00e4f51a69c2a2b49e8803c 2023-05-15T13:52:54+02:00 Intense ocean freshening from melting glacier around the Antarctica during early twenty-first century Xianliang L. Pan Bofeng F. Li Yutaka W. Watanabe 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04231-6 https://doaj.org/article/2081bf92a00e4f51a69c2a2b49e8803c EN eng Nature Portfolio https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04231-6 https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322 doi:10.1038/s41598-021-04231-6 2045-2322 https://doaj.org/article/2081bf92a00e4f51a69c2a2b49e8803c Scientific Reports, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2022) Medicine R Science Q article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04231-6 2022-12-30T20:28:14Z Abstract With the accelerating mass loss of Antarctic ice sheets, the freshening of the Southern Ocean coastal oceans (SOc, seas around Antarctica) is gradually intensifying, which will reduce the formation of bottom water and weaken the meridional overturning circulation, thus having a significant negative impact on the ocean’s role in regulating global climate. Due to the extreme environment of the Southern Ocean and the limitations of observational techniques, our understanding of the glacier-derived freshening of SOc is still vague. We developed a method that first provided us with an expansive understanding of glacier-derived freshening progress over the SOc. Applying this method to the observational data in the SOc from 1926 to 2016, revealed that the rate of glacier-derived freshwater input reached a maximum of 268 ± 134 Gt year−1 during the early twenty-first century. Our results indicate that during the same period, glacier melting accounted for 63%, 28%, and 92% of the total freshening occurred in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific sectors of the SOc, respectively. This suggests that the ice shelf basal melt in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula plays a dominant role in the freshening of the surrounding seas. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Ice Shelf Southern Ocean West Antarctica Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula West Antarctica Pacific Indian Scientific Reports 12 1
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic Medicine
R
Science
Q
spellingShingle Medicine
R
Science
Q
Xianliang L. Pan
Bofeng F. Li
Yutaka W. Watanabe
Intense ocean freshening from melting glacier around the Antarctica during early twenty-first century
topic_facet Medicine
R
Science
Q
description Abstract With the accelerating mass loss of Antarctic ice sheets, the freshening of the Southern Ocean coastal oceans (SOc, seas around Antarctica) is gradually intensifying, which will reduce the formation of bottom water and weaken the meridional overturning circulation, thus having a significant negative impact on the ocean’s role in regulating global climate. Due to the extreme environment of the Southern Ocean and the limitations of observational techniques, our understanding of the glacier-derived freshening of SOc is still vague. We developed a method that first provided us with an expansive understanding of glacier-derived freshening progress over the SOc. Applying this method to the observational data in the SOc from 1926 to 2016, revealed that the rate of glacier-derived freshwater input reached a maximum of 268 ± 134 Gt year−1 during the early twenty-first century. Our results indicate that during the same period, glacier melting accounted for 63%, 28%, and 92% of the total freshening occurred in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific sectors of the SOc, respectively. This suggests that the ice shelf basal melt in West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula plays a dominant role in the freshening of the surrounding seas.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Xianliang L. Pan
Bofeng F. Li
Yutaka W. Watanabe
author_facet Xianliang L. Pan
Bofeng F. Li
Yutaka W. Watanabe
author_sort Xianliang L. Pan
title Intense ocean freshening from melting glacier around the Antarctica during early twenty-first century
title_short Intense ocean freshening from melting glacier around the Antarctica during early twenty-first century
title_full Intense ocean freshening from melting glacier around the Antarctica during early twenty-first century
title_fullStr Intense ocean freshening from melting glacier around the Antarctica during early twenty-first century
title_full_unstemmed Intense ocean freshening from melting glacier around the Antarctica during early twenty-first century
title_sort intense ocean freshening from melting glacier around the antarctica during early twenty-first century
publisher Nature Portfolio
publishDate 2022
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04231-6
https://doaj.org/article/2081bf92a00e4f51a69c2a2b49e8803c
geographic Antarctic
Southern Ocean
The Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
West Antarctica
Pacific
Indian
geographic_facet Antarctic
Southern Ocean
The Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
West Antarctica
Pacific
Indian
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctica
Ice Shelf
Southern Ocean
West Antarctica
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctic Peninsula
Antarctica
Ice Shelf
Southern Ocean
West Antarctica
op_source Scientific Reports, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2022)
op_relation https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04231-6
https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322
doi:10.1038/s41598-021-04231-6
2045-2322
https://doaj.org/article/2081bf92a00e4f51a69c2a2b49e8803c
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04231-6
container_title Scientific Reports
container_volume 12
container_issue 1
_version_ 1766257755349319680