Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling

Basal melting of the Antarctic ice shelves is an important factor in determining the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet. This study used the climatic outputs of an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model to force a circumpolar ocean model that resolves ice shelf cavity circulation to investigat...

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Published in:Journal of Climate
Main Authors: Obase, T, Abe-Ouchi, A, Kusahara, K, Hasumi, H, Ohgaito, R
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Amer Meteorological Soc 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0908.1
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/123545
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spelling ftunivtasecite:oai:ecite.utas.edu.au:123545 2023-05-15T13:49:03+02:00 Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling Obase, T Abe-Ouchi, A Kusahara, K Hasumi, H Ohgaito, R 2017 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0908.1 http://ecite.utas.edu.au/123545 en eng Amer Meteorological Soc http://ecite.utas.edu.au/123545/1/Obase_JC_2017.pdf http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0908.1 Obase, T and Abe-Ouchi, A and Kusahara, K and Hasumi, H and Ohgaito, R, Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling, Journal of Climate, 30, (10) pp. 3473-3497. ISSN 0894-8755 (2017) [Refereed Article] http://ecite.utas.edu.au/123545 Earth Sciences Atmospheric Sciences Climate Change Processes Refereed Article PeerReviewed 2017 ftunivtasecite https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0908.1 2019-12-13T22:22:15Z Basal melting of the Antarctic ice shelves is an important factor in determining the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet. This study used the climatic outputs of an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model to force a circumpolar ocean model that resolves ice shelf cavity circulation to investigate the response of Antarctic ice shelf melting to different climatic conditions (i.e., to a doubling of CO 2 and to the Last Glacial Maximum conditions). Sensitivity experiments were also conducted to investigate the roles of both surface atmospheric change and changes of oceanic lateral boundary conditions. It was found that the rate of change of basal melt due to climate warming is much greater (by an order of magnitude) than that due to cooling. This is mainly because the intrusion of warm water onto the continental shelves, linked to sea ice production and climate change, is crucial in determining the basal melt rate of many ice shelves. Sensitivity experiments showed that changes of atmospheric heat flux and ocean temperature are both important for warm and cold climates. The offshore wind change, together with atmospheric heat flux change, strongly affected the production of both sea ice and high-density water, preventing warmer water approaching the ice shelves under a colder climate. These results reflect the importance of both water mass formation in the Antarctic shelf seas and subsurface ocean temperature in understanding the long-term response to climate change of the melting of Antarctic ice shelves. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania) Antarctic The Antarctic Journal of Climate 30 10 3473 3497
institution Open Polar
collection eCite UTAS (University of Tasmania)
op_collection_id ftunivtasecite
language English
topic Earth Sciences
Atmospheric Sciences
Climate Change Processes
spellingShingle Earth Sciences
Atmospheric Sciences
Climate Change Processes
Obase, T
Abe-Ouchi, A
Kusahara, K
Hasumi, H
Ohgaito, R
Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling
topic_facet Earth Sciences
Atmospheric Sciences
Climate Change Processes
description Basal melting of the Antarctic ice shelves is an important factor in determining the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet. This study used the climatic outputs of an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model to force a circumpolar ocean model that resolves ice shelf cavity circulation to investigate the response of Antarctic ice shelf melting to different climatic conditions (i.e., to a doubling of CO 2 and to the Last Glacial Maximum conditions). Sensitivity experiments were also conducted to investigate the roles of both surface atmospheric change and changes of oceanic lateral boundary conditions. It was found that the rate of change of basal melt due to climate warming is much greater (by an order of magnitude) than that due to cooling. This is mainly because the intrusion of warm water onto the continental shelves, linked to sea ice production and climate change, is crucial in determining the basal melt rate of many ice shelves. Sensitivity experiments showed that changes of atmospheric heat flux and ocean temperature are both important for warm and cold climates. The offshore wind change, together with atmospheric heat flux change, strongly affected the production of both sea ice and high-density water, preventing warmer water approaching the ice shelves under a colder climate. These results reflect the importance of both water mass formation in the Antarctic shelf seas and subsurface ocean temperature in understanding the long-term response to climate change of the melting of Antarctic ice shelves.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Obase, T
Abe-Ouchi, A
Kusahara, K
Hasumi, H
Ohgaito, R
author_facet Obase, T
Abe-Ouchi, A
Kusahara, K
Hasumi, H
Ohgaito, R
author_sort Obase, T
title Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling
title_short Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling
title_full Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling
title_fullStr Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling
title_full_unstemmed Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling
title_sort responses of basal melting of antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and co 2 doubling
publisher Amer Meteorological Soc
publishDate 2017
url https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0908.1
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/123545
geographic Antarctic
The Antarctic
geographic_facet Antarctic
The Antarctic
genre Antarc*
Antarctic
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
Sea ice
genre_facet Antarc*
Antarctic
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelf
Ice Shelves
Sea ice
op_relation http://ecite.utas.edu.au/123545/1/Obase_JC_2017.pdf
http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0908.1
Obase, T and Abe-Ouchi, A and Kusahara, K and Hasumi, H and Ohgaito, R, Responses of basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves to the climatic forcing of the last glacial maximum and CO 2 doubling, Journal of Climate, 30, (10) pp. 3473-3497. ISSN 0894-8755 (2017) [Refereed Article]
http://ecite.utas.edu.au/123545
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0908.1
container_title Journal of Climate
container_volume 30
container_issue 10
container_start_page 3473
op_container_end_page 3497
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