The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021

The low Antarctic sea ice extent (SIE) following its dramatic decline in late 2016 has persisted over a multiyear period. However, it remains unclear to what extent this low SIE can be attributed to changing ocean conditions. Here, we investigate the causes of this period of low Antarctic SIE using...

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Main Authors: Zhang, L., Delworth, T., Yang, X., Zeng, F., Lu, F., Morioka, Y., Bushuk, M.
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Online Access:https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5021167
id ftgfzpotsdam:oai:gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de:item_5021167
record_format openpolar
spelling ftgfzpotsdam:oai:gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de:item_5021167 2023-07-30T03:59:28+02:00 The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021 Zhang, L. Delworth, T. Yang, X. Zeng, F. Lu, F. Morioka, Y. Bushuk, M. 2023-07-11 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5021167 eng eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.57757/IUGG23-4759 https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5021167 XXVIII General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject 2023 ftgfzpotsdam https://doi.org/10.57757/IUGG23-4759 2023-07-16T23:40:28Z The low Antarctic sea ice extent (SIE) following its dramatic decline in late 2016 has persisted over a multiyear period. However, it remains unclear to what extent this low SIE can be attributed to changing ocean conditions. Here, we investigate the causes of this period of low Antarctic SIE using a coupled climate model partially constrained by observations. We find that the subsurface Southern Ocean (SO) played a smaller role than the atmosphere in the extreme SIE low in 2016, but was critical for the persistence of negative anomalies over 2016-2021. Prior to 2016, the subsurface SO warmed in response to enhanced westerly winds. Decadal hindcasts show that subsurface warming has persisted and gradually destabilized the ocean from below, reducing SIE over several years. The simultaneous variations in the atmosphere and ocean after 2016 have further amplified the decline in Antarctic SIE. Conference Object Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean GFZpublic (German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam) Antarctic Southern Ocean
institution Open Polar
collection GFZpublic (German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz-Zentrum Potsdam)
op_collection_id ftgfzpotsdam
language English
description The low Antarctic sea ice extent (SIE) following its dramatic decline in late 2016 has persisted over a multiyear period. However, it remains unclear to what extent this low SIE can be attributed to changing ocean conditions. Here, we investigate the causes of this period of low Antarctic SIE using a coupled climate model partially constrained by observations. We find that the subsurface Southern Ocean (SO) played a smaller role than the atmosphere in the extreme SIE low in 2016, but was critical for the persistence of negative anomalies over 2016-2021. Prior to 2016, the subsurface SO warmed in response to enhanced westerly winds. Decadal hindcasts show that subsurface warming has persisted and gradually destabilized the ocean from below, reducing SIE over several years. The simultaneous variations in the atmosphere and ocean after 2016 have further amplified the decline in Antarctic SIE.
format Conference Object
author Zhang, L.
Delworth, T.
Yang, X.
Zeng, F.
Lu, F.
Morioka, Y.
Bushuk, M.
spellingShingle Zhang, L.
Delworth, T.
Yang, X.
Zeng, F.
Lu, F.
Morioka, Y.
Bushuk, M.
The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021
author_facet Zhang, L.
Delworth, T.
Yang, X.
Zeng, F.
Lu, F.
Morioka, Y.
Bushuk, M.
author_sort Zhang, L.
title The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021
title_short The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021
title_full The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021
title_fullStr The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021
title_full_unstemmed The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021
title_sort relative role of the subsurface southern ocean in driving negative antarctic sea ice extent anomalies in 2016-2021
publishDate 2023
url https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5021167
geographic Antarctic
Southern Ocean
geographic_facet Antarctic
Southern Ocean
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Sea ice
Southern Ocean
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Sea ice
Southern Ocean
op_source XXVIII General Assembly of the International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG)
op_relation info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.57757/IUGG23-4759
https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5021167
op_doi https://doi.org/10.57757/IUGG23-4759
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