Brief communication: Increasing shortwave absorption over the Arctic Ocean is not balanced by trends in the Antarctic

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: C. Katlein, S. Hendricks, J. Key
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2017
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Arctic; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; Arctic Ocean; Antarc*; Sea ice; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2111-2017; https://doaj.org/article/fa7538f45d6f4a9fa1effa7a6b25cd9e

On the basis of a new, consistent, long-term observational satellite dataset we show that, despite the observed increase of sea ice extent in the Antarctic, absorption of solar shortwave radiation in the Southern Ocean poleward of 60° latitude is not decreasing. The observations hence show that the small increase in Antarctic sea ice extent does not compensate for the combined effect of retreating Arctic sea ice and changes in cloud cover, which both result in a total increase in solar shortwave energy deposited into the polar oceans.