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UP: Fachverband Umweltphysik

UP 5: Cryosphere and Arctic Oceans

UP 5.1: Hauptvortrag

Mittwoch, 28. Februar 2024, 11:00–11:30, ELP 6: HS 4

Melting from below: An abrupt transition in Antarctic sea ice-ocean system — •Alexander Haumann^1,2 and et al.³ — ¹Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany — ²Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany — ³other institutions

After increasing for more than three decades, Antarctic sea ice extent rapidly declined in 2015/16 and exhibits multiple record minima since. This rapid decline has been unexpected and raises the question if global warming has now reached the high-latitude Southern Ocean. In my talk, I will provide evidence that Antarctic sea ice experienced an abrupt transition from a high to low extent state due to a complex interaction with the ocean. I will show that a combination of deep water warming, a signal that is expected from global climate change, and surface ocean destabilization abruptly shifted the ice-ocean system to a new state, with wide implications for the ecosystems and the Antarctic Ice Sheet, and possibly the global climate.

Keywords: Southern Ocean; Antarctic; sea ice; variability; climate change