Warming beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice
Understanding how climate change influences ocean-driven melting of the Antarctic ice shelves is one of the greatest challenges for projecting future sea level rise. The East Antarctic ice shelf cavities host cold water masses that limit melting, and only a few short-term observational studies exist...
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ftunivbergen:oai:bora.uib.no:11250/3097799 2023-11-12T04:07:53+01:00 Warming beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice Lauber, Julius Hattermann, Tore de Steur, Laura Chiche, Elin Maria Kristina Darelius Auger, Matthis Nøst, Ole Anders Moholdt, Geir 2023 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3097799 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01273-5 eng eng Nature Norges forskningsråd: 295075 urn:issn:1752-0894 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3097799 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01273-5 cristin:2178627 Nature Geoscience. 2023, 16, 877–885. Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright 2023 The Author(s) Nature Geoscience 877–885 16 Antarktis Antarctica Fysisk oseanografi Physical oceanography Ice ocean interactions VDP::Oseanografi: 452 VDP::Oceanography: 452 Journal article Peer reviewed 2023 ftunivbergen https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01273-5 2023-10-25T23:08:29Z Understanding how climate change influences ocean-driven melting of the Antarctic ice shelves is one of the greatest challenges for projecting future sea level rise. The East Antarctic ice shelf cavities host cold water masses that limit melting, and only a few short-term observational studies exist on what drives warm water intrusions into these cavities. We analyse nine years of continuous oceanographic records from below Fimbulisen and relate them to oceanic and atmospheric forcing. On monthly time scales, warm inflow events are associated with weakened coastal easterlies reducing downwelling in front of the ice shelf. Since 2016, however, we observe sustained warming, with inflowing Warm Deep Water temperatures reaching above 0 °C. This is concurrent with an increase in satellite-derived basal melt rates of 0.62 m/yr, which nearly doubles the basal mass loss at this relatively cold ice shelf cavity. We find that this transition is linked to a reduction in coastal sea ice cover through an increase in atmosphere–ocean momentum transfer and to a strengthening of remote subpolar westerlies. These results imply that East Antarctic ice shelves may become more exposed to warmer waters with a projected increase of circum-Antarctic westerlies, increasing this region’s relevance for sea level rise projections. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Antarktis* Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) Antarctic The Antarctic Fimbulisen ENVELOPE(-0.500,-0.500,-70.750,-70.750) Nature Geoscience 16 10 877 885 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Bergen: Bergen Open Research Archive (BORA-UiB) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivbergen |
language |
English |
topic |
Antarktis Antarctica Fysisk oseanografi Physical oceanography Ice ocean interactions VDP::Oseanografi: 452 VDP::Oceanography: 452 |
spellingShingle |
Antarktis Antarctica Fysisk oseanografi Physical oceanography Ice ocean interactions VDP::Oseanografi: 452 VDP::Oceanography: 452 Lauber, Julius Hattermann, Tore de Steur, Laura Chiche, Elin Maria Kristina Darelius Auger, Matthis Nøst, Ole Anders Moholdt, Geir Warming beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice |
topic_facet |
Antarktis Antarctica Fysisk oseanografi Physical oceanography Ice ocean interactions VDP::Oseanografi: 452 VDP::Oceanography: 452 |
description |
Understanding how climate change influences ocean-driven melting of the Antarctic ice shelves is one of the greatest challenges for projecting future sea level rise. The East Antarctic ice shelf cavities host cold water masses that limit melting, and only a few short-term observational studies exist on what drives warm water intrusions into these cavities. We analyse nine years of continuous oceanographic records from below Fimbulisen and relate them to oceanic and atmospheric forcing. On monthly time scales, warm inflow events are associated with weakened coastal easterlies reducing downwelling in front of the ice shelf. Since 2016, however, we observe sustained warming, with inflowing Warm Deep Water temperatures reaching above 0 °C. This is concurrent with an increase in satellite-derived basal melt rates of 0.62 m/yr, which nearly doubles the basal mass loss at this relatively cold ice shelf cavity. We find that this transition is linked to a reduction in coastal sea ice cover through an increase in atmosphere–ocean momentum transfer and to a strengthening of remote subpolar westerlies. These results imply that East Antarctic ice shelves may become more exposed to warmer waters with a projected increase of circum-Antarctic westerlies, increasing this region’s relevance for sea level rise projections. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lauber, Julius Hattermann, Tore de Steur, Laura Chiche, Elin Maria Kristina Darelius Auger, Matthis Nøst, Ole Anders Moholdt, Geir |
author_facet |
Lauber, Julius Hattermann, Tore de Steur, Laura Chiche, Elin Maria Kristina Darelius Auger, Matthis Nøst, Ole Anders Moholdt, Geir |
author_sort |
Lauber, Julius |
title |
Warming beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice |
title_short |
Warming beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice |
title_full |
Warming beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice |
title_fullStr |
Warming beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice |
title_full_unstemmed |
Warming beneath an East Antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice |
title_sort |
warming beneath an east antarctic ice shelf due to increased subpolar westerlies and reduced sea ice |
publisher |
Nature |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3097799 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01273-5 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-0.500,-0.500,-70.750,-70.750) |
geographic |
Antarctic The Antarctic Fimbulisen |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic The Antarctic Fimbulisen |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Antarktis* Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Antarktis* Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice |
op_source |
Nature Geoscience 877–885 16 |
op_relation |
Norges forskningsråd: 295075 urn:issn:1752-0894 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3097799 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01273-5 cristin:2178627 Nature Geoscience. 2023, 16, 877–885. |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no Copyright 2023 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01273-5 |
container_title |
Nature Geoscience |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
877 |
op_container_end_page |
885 |
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1782328383481315328 |