Asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice driven by insolation
The mean seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea-ice extent is asymmetric, with the period of ice retreat being approximately two months shorter than the period of ice advance. This feature is largely consistent in observations from year to year and across different satellite products. The asymmetry is also...
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00913-6 |
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_25732 2023-10-01T03:51:18+02:00 Asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice driven by insolation Roach, Lettie A. (author) Eisenman, I. (author) Wagner, T.J.W. (author) Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, E. (author) Bitz, Cecilia M. (author) 2022-04 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00913-6 en eng Nature Geoscience--Nat. Geosci.--1752-0894--1752-0908 articles:25732 doi:10.1038/s41561-022-00913-6 ark:/85065/d7862m8g Copyright 2022 Springer Nature. article Text 2022 ftncar https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00913-6 2023-09-04T18:21:26Z The mean seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea-ice extent is asymmetric, with the period of ice retreat being approximately two months shorter than the period of ice advance. This feature is largely consistent in observations from year to year and across different satellite products. The asymmetry is also broadly reproduced by comprehensive climate models across generations from CMIP3 to CMIP6, with limited impacts from internal variability. Using a range of idealized climate models of varying complexity, we show that the seasonal cycle in top-of-atmosphere incident solar radiation drives the asymmetry. Because insolation in southern high latitudes departs from a sinusoid by having a narrow peak of intense brightness in summer and a long period of low light in winter, there is rapid summer ice retreat and gradual winter ice advance. This simple physical explanation is markedly different from those proposed in previous studies. NA18NWS4620043B Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) Antarctic Nature Geoscience 15 4 277 281 |
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Open Polar |
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OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
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ftncar |
language |
English |
description |
The mean seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea-ice extent is asymmetric, with the period of ice retreat being approximately two months shorter than the period of ice advance. This feature is largely consistent in observations from year to year and across different satellite products. The asymmetry is also broadly reproduced by comprehensive climate models across generations from CMIP3 to CMIP6, with limited impacts from internal variability. Using a range of idealized climate models of varying complexity, we show that the seasonal cycle in top-of-atmosphere incident solar radiation drives the asymmetry. Because insolation in southern high latitudes departs from a sinusoid by having a narrow peak of intense brightness in summer and a long period of low light in winter, there is rapid summer ice retreat and gradual winter ice advance. This simple physical explanation is markedly different from those proposed in previous studies. NA18NWS4620043B |
author2 |
Roach, Lettie A. (author) Eisenman, I. (author) Wagner, T.J.W. (author) Blanchard-Wrigglesworth, E. (author) Bitz, Cecilia M. (author) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice driven by insolation |
spellingShingle |
Asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice driven by insolation |
title_short |
Asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice driven by insolation |
title_full |
Asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice driven by insolation |
title_fullStr |
Asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice driven by insolation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of Antarctic sea ice driven by insolation |
title_sort |
asymmetry in the seasonal cycle of antarctic sea ice driven by insolation |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00913-6 |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice |
op_relation |
Nature Geoscience--Nat. Geosci.--1752-0894--1752-0908 articles:25732 doi:10.1038/s41561-022-00913-6 ark:/85065/d7862m8g |
op_rights |
Copyright 2022 Springer Nature. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-022-00913-6 |
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Nature Geoscience |
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15 |
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4 |
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277 |
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281 |
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1778534538776936448 |