Interpretation of recent trends in Antarctic sea ice concentration

• Published in: Journal of Applied Remote Sensing
• Other Authors: Yu, Lejiang (author), Zhang, Zhanhai (author), Zhou, Mingyu (author), Zhong, Shiyuan (author), Lenschow, Donald (author), Gao, Zhiqiu (author), Wu, Huiding (author), Li, Na (author), Sun, Bo (author)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: SPIE 2011
• Subjects: Physical oceanography; Antarctic; Pacific; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Sea ice
• Online Access: http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-010-973; https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3643691

We investigate seasonal trends in sea ice concentration and the relative contributions of the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), the Pacific-South American two modes (PSA1 and PSA2), and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The summer range of the trend in the Antarctic sea ice is the largest, from -83.8% to 59.6% per 29 yr over the period of 1979 through 2007, while the autumn range is the least, from -49.7% to 39.6% per 29 yr for the period of 1979 through 2007. In autumn, among the four indices the largest contribution to the trend in sea ice is the AAO; in winter the ENSO and the PSA1 are better than the other two indices; during spring and summer a change of more than 15% per 29 yr is associated with PSA1. No matter the season, the spatial pattern of the residual trend is similar to that of the total trend; moreover, the combined trends of the four indices only explains less than one-third of the total trend.