Recent decrease of summer sea ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica

Turner, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6111-5122; Guarino, Maria Vittoria ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7531-4560; Arnatt, Jack; Jena, Babula; Marshall, Gareth J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8887-7314; Phillips, Tony ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3058-9157; Bajish, C.C.; Clem, Kyle; Wang, Zhaomin; Andersson, Tom ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1556-9932; Murphy, Eugene J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7369-9196; Cavanagh, Rachel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2474-9716. 2020 Recent decrease of summer sea ice in the Weddell Sea, Antarctica. Geophysical Research Letters, 47 (11), e2020GL087127. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087127

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Abstract/Summary

In Austral summer 2016/17 the sea ice extent (SIE) in the Weddell Sea dropped to a near‐record value in the satellite era (1.88 × 106 km2, 56% of the long‐term mean); a large negative seasonal anomaly that persisted in an unprecedented fashion for the following three summers. Various atmospheric and oceanic factors played a part in the change. Ice loss started in September 2016 when the northern Weddell Sea experienced westerly winds of record strength advecting multi‐year sea ice from the region. In late 2016 a polynya over Maud Rise contributed to low SIE over the eastern Weddell Sea. With extensive areas of open water early in the summer, upper ocean temperatures increased by ~0.5° C, with the anomalies persisting in subsequent years. The re‐appearance of the Maud Rise polynya in 2017, high ocean temperatures and storms of record depth kept the summer SIE low.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087127
ISSN:	0094-8276
Additional Keywords:	Sea ice, Antarctica, Weddell Sea, climate change, cryosphere, polynya
Date made live:	01 Jun 2020 10:19 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526565

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087127

ISSN:

0094-8276

Additional Keywords:

Sea ice, Antarctica, Weddell Sea, climate change, cryosphere, polynya

Date made live:

01 Jun 2020 10:19 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/526565