Slowdown of Antarctic Bottom Water export driven by climatic wind and sea-ice changes

Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is pivotal for oceanic heat and carbon sequestrations on multidecadal to millennial timescales. The Weddell Sea contributes nearly a half of global AABW through Weddell Sea Deep Water and denser underlying Weddell Sea Bottom Water that form on the continental shelves vi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature Climate Change
Main Authors: Zhou, Shenjie, Meijers, Andrew J.S., Meredith, Michael P., Abrahamsen, E. Povl, Holland, Paul R., Silvano, Alessandro, Sallee, Jean-Baptiste, Østerhus, Svein
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
Amundsen Sea
Antarctic
Pacific
Weddell
Weddell Sea
Antarc*
Sea ice
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3084548
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-023-01695-4
Description
Summary:Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) is pivotal for oceanic heat and carbon sequestrations on multidecadal to millennial timescales. The Weddell Sea contributes nearly a half of global AABW through Weddell Sea Deep Water and denser underlying Weddell Sea Bottom Water that form on the continental shelves via sea-ice production. Here we report an observed 30% reduction of Weddell Sea Bottom Water volume since 1992, with the largest decrease in the densest classes. This is probably driven by a multidecadal reduction in dense-water production over southern continental shelf associated with a >40% decline in the sea-ice formation rate. The ice production decrease is driven by northerly wind trend, related to a phase transition of the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation since the early 1990s, superposed by Amundsen Sea Low intrinsic variability. These results reveal key influences on exported AABW to the Atlantic abyss and their sensitivity to large-scale, multidecadal climate variability. Slowdown of Antarctic Bottom Water export driven by climatic wind and sea-ice changes publishedVersion

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