Accumulation in coastal West Antarctic ice core records and the role of cyclone activity

Hosking, J. Scott ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3646-3504; Fogt, Ryan; Thomas, Elizabeth R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3010-6493; Moosavi, Vahid; Phillips, Tony ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3058-9157; Coggins, Jack; Reusch, David. 2017 Accumulation in coastal West Antarctic ice core records and the role of cyclone activity. Geophysical Research Letters, 44 (17). 9084-9092. 10.1002/2017GL074722

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Abstract/Summary

Cyclones are an important component of Antarctic climate variability, yet quantifying their impact on the polar environment is challenging. We assess how cyclones which pass through the Bellingshausen Sea affect accumulation over Ellsworth Land, West Antarctica, where we have two ice core records. We use self-organizing maps (SOMs), an unsupervised machine learning technique, to group cyclones into nine SOM nodes differing by their trajectories (1980–2015). The annual frequency of cyclones associated with the first SOM node (SOM1, which generally originate from lower latitudes over the South Pacific Ocean) is significantly (p < 0.001) correlated with annual accumulation, with the highest seasonal correlations (p < 0.001) found during autumn. While significant (p < 0.01) increases in vertically integrated water vapor over the South Pacific Ocean coincide with this same group of cyclones, we find no indication that this has led to an increase in moisture advection into, nor accumulation over, Ellsworth Land over this short time period.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1002/2017GL074722
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > BAS Programmes 2015 > Atmosphere, Ice and Climate BAS Programmes > BAS Programmes 2015 > Ice Dynamics and Palaeoclimate
ISSN:	0094-8276
Additional Keywords:	cyclones, West Antarctic, ice cores, SOMs, accumulation
Date made live:	21 Sep 2017 08:26 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/516852

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