Rapid sea-level rise along the Antarctic margins in response to increased glacial discharge

Rye, Craig D.; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C.; Holland, Paul R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8370-289X; Meredith, Michael P. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7342-7756; Nurser, A.J. George; Hughes, Chris W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9355-0233; Coward, Andrew C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9111-7700; Webb, David J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7084-8566. 2014 Rapid sea-level rise along the Antarctic margins in response to increased glacial discharge. Nature Geoscience, 7 (10). 732-735. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2230

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© 2014 Nature Publishing Group This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Nature Geoscience. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version will be published in Nature Geoscience (doi:10.1038/ngeo2230)
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© 2014 Nature Publishing Group This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Nature Geoscience. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version will be published in Nature Geoscience (doi:10.1038/ngeo2230)
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Abstract/Summary

The Antarctic shelf seas are a climatically and ecologically important region, and are at present receiving increasing amounts of freshwater from the melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and its fringing ice shelves1, 2, primarily around the Antarctic Peninsula and the Amudsen Sea. In response, the surface ocean salinity in this region has declined in past decades3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Here, we assess the effects of the freshwater input on regional sea level using satellite measurements of sea surface height (for months with no sea-ice cover) and a global ocean circulation model. We find that from 1992 to 2011, sea-level rise along the Antarctic coast is at least 2 ± 0.8 mm yr−1 greater than the regional mean for the Southern Ocean south of 50° S. On the basis of the model simulations, we conclude that this sea-level rise is almost entirely related to steric adjustment, rather than changes in local ocean mass, with a halosteric rise in the upper ocean and thermosteric contributions at depth. We estimate that an excess freshwater input of 430 ± 230 Gt yr−1 is required to explain the observed sea-level rise. We conclude that accelerating discharge from the Antarctic Ice Sheet has had a pronounced and widespread impact on the adjacent subpolar seas over the past two decades.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2230
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Polar Science for Planet Earth (2009 - ) > Polar Oceans
ISSN:	1752-0894
Additional Keywords:	climate change, sea level change, sea level rise, meltwater
Date made live:	11 Jul 2013 13:34 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/502074

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2230

Programmes:

BAS Programmes > Polar Science for Planet Earth (2009 - ) > Polar Oceans

ISSN:

1752-0894

Additional Keywords:

climate change, sea level change, sea level rise, meltwater

Date made live:

11 Jul 2013 13:34 +0 (UTC)