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 following its dramatic decline in late 2016 has persisted over a multiyear period. However, it remains unclear to what extent this low sea ice extent can be attributed to changing ocean conditions. Here, we investigate the causes of this period of low Antarctic sea i...
Published in: | Communications Earth & Environment |
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00624-1 |
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_25928 2023-10-01T03:50:41+02:00 The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016–2021 Zhang, Liping (author) Delworth, Thomas L. (author) Yang, Xiaosong (author) Zeng, Fanrong (author) Lu, Feiyu (author) Morioka, Yushi (author) Bushuk, Mitchell (author) 2022-11-30 https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00624-1 en eng Communications Earth & Environment--Commun Earth Environ--2662-4435 Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data, Version 1--10.5067/8GQ8LZQVL0VL articles:25928 doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00624-1 ark:/85065/d70k2dd3 Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. article Text 2022 ftncar https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00624-1 2023-09-04T18:21:26Z The low Antarctic sea ice extent following its dramatic decline in late 2016 has persisted over a multiyear period. However, it remains unclear to what extent this low sea ice extent can be attributed to changing ocean conditions. Here, we investigate the causes of this period of low Antarctic sea ice extent using a coupled climate model partially constrained by observations. We find that the subsurface Southern Ocean played a smaller role than the atmosphere in the extreme sea ice extent low in 2016, but was critical for the persistence of negative anomalies over 2016-2021. Prior to 2016, the subsurface Southern Ocean warmed in response to enhanced westerly winds. Decadal hindcasts show that subsurface warming has persisted and gradually destabilized the ocean from below, reducing sea ice extent over several years. The simultaneous variations in the atmosphere and ocean after 2016 have further amplified the decline in Antarctic sea ice extent. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Sea ice Southern Ocean OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) Antarctic Southern Ocean Communications Earth & Environment 3 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftncar |
language |
English |
description |
The low Antarctic sea ice extent following its dramatic decline in late 2016 has persisted over a multiyear period. However, it remains unclear to what extent this low sea ice extent can be attributed to changing ocean conditions. Here, we investigate the causes of this period of low Antarctic sea ice extent using a coupled climate model partially constrained by observations. We find that the subsurface Southern Ocean played a smaller role than the atmosphere in the extreme sea ice extent low in 2016, but was critical for the persistence of negative anomalies over 2016-2021. Prior to 2016, the subsurface Southern Ocean warmed in response to enhanced westerly winds. Decadal hindcasts show that subsurface warming has persisted and gradually destabilized the ocean from below, reducing sea ice extent over several years. The simultaneous variations in the atmosphere and ocean after 2016 have further amplified the decline in Antarctic sea ice extent. |
author2 |
Zhang, Liping (author) Delworth, Thomas L. (author) Yang, Xiaosong (author) Zeng, Fanrong (author) Lu, Feiyu (author) Morioka, Yushi (author) Bushuk, Mitchell (author) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
The relative role of the subsurface Southern Ocean in driving negative Antarctic Sea ice extent anomalies in 2016–2021 |
spellingShingle |
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 |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00624-1 |
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_relation |
Communications Earth & Environment--Commun Earth Environ--2662-4435 Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I-SSMIS Passive Microwave Data, Version 1--10.5067/8GQ8LZQVL0VL articles:25928 doi:10.1038/s43247-022-00624-1 ark:/85065/d70k2dd3 |
op_rights |
Copyright author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00624-1 |
container_title |
Communications Earth & Environment |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1778526384764747776 |