Characteristics and rarity of the strong 1940s westerly wind event over the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica

O'Connor, Gemma K.; Holland, Paul R. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8370-289X; Steig, Eric J.; Dutrieux, Pierre ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8066-934X; Hakim, Gregory J.. 2023 Characteristics and rarity of the strong 1940s westerly wind event over the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica. The Cryosphere, 17 (10). 4399-4420. 10.5194/tc-17-4399-2023

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Official URL: https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/4399/2023/

Abstract/Summary

Glaciers in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica are rapidly retreating and contributing to sea level rise. Ice loss is occurring primarily via exposure to warm ocean water, which varies in response to local wind variability. There is evidence that retreat was initiated in the mid-20th century, but the perturbation that may have triggered retreat remains unknown. A leading hypothesis is that large pressure and wind anomalies in the 1940s drove exceptionally strong oceanic ice-shelf melting. However, the characteristics, drivers, and rarity of the atmospheric event remain poorly constrained. We investigate the 1940s atmospheric event using paleoclimate reconstructions and climate model simulations. The reconstructions show that large westerly wind anomalies occurred from ∼1938–1942, a combined response to the very large El Niño event from 1940–1942 and other variability beginning years earlier. Climate model simulations provide evidence that events of similar magnitude and duration may occur tens to hundreds of times per 10 kyr of internal climate variability (∼0.2 to 2.5 occurrences per century). Our results suggest that the 1940s westerly event is unlikely to have been exceptional enough to be the sole explanation for the initiation of Amundsen Sea glacier retreat. Additional factors are likely needed to explain the onset of retreat in West Antarctica, such as naturally arising variability in ocean conditions prior to the 1940s or anthropogenically driven trends since the 1940s.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.5194/tc-17-4399-2023
ISSN:	1994-0424
Date made live:	26 Feb 2024 11:15 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/536978

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

10.5194/tc-17-4399-2023

ISSN:

1994-0424

Date made live:

26 Feb 2024 11:15 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/536978