Exploring the sensitivity of global ocean circulation to future ice loss from Antarctica

• Main Author: Condron, Alan
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Amundsen Sea; Antarctic; Southern Ocean; The Antarctic; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Iceberg*
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1420141; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1420141; https://doi.org/10.2172/1420141

The sensitivity of the global ocean circulation and climate to large increases in iceberg calving and meltwater discharges from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) are rarely studied and poorly understood. The requirement to investigate this topic is heightened by growing evidence that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is vulnerable to rapid retreat and collapse on multidecadal-to-centennial timescales. Observations collected over the last 30 years indicate that the WAIS is now losing mass at an accelerated and that a collapse may have already begun in the Amundsen Sea sector. In addition, some recent future model simulations of the AIS show the potential for rapid ice sheet retreat in the next 50 – 300 years. Such a collapse would be associated with the discharge of enormous volumes of ice and meltwater to the Southern Ocean. This project funds PI Condron to begin assessing the sensitivity of the global ocean circulation to projected increases in meltwater discharge and iceberg calving from the AIS for the next 50 – 100 years. A series of climate model simulations will determine changes in ocean circulation and temperature at the ice sheet grounding line, the role of mesoscale ocean eddies in mixing and transporting freshwater away from the continent to deep water formation regions, and the likely impact on the northward transport of heat to Europe and North America.