Record low Antarctic sea ice coverage indicates a new sea ice state

Ariaan Purich; Edward W. Doddridge

doi:10.1038/s43247-023-00961-9

Record low Antarctic sea ice coverage indicates a new sea ice state

Ariaan Purich
, Edward W. Doddridge

School of Earth Atmosphere and Environment

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

302 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In February 2023, Antarctic sea ice set a record minimum; there have now been three record-breaking low sea ice summers in seven years. Following the summer minimum, circumpolar Antarctic sea ice coverage remained exceptionally low during the autumn and winter advance, leading to the largest negative areal extent anomalies observed over the satellite era. Here, we show the confluence of Southern Ocean subsurface warming and record minima and suggest that ocean warming has played a role in pushing Antarctic sea ice into a new low-extent state. In addition, this new state exhibits different seasonal persistence characteristics, suggesting that the underlying processes controlling Antarctic sea ice coverage may have altered.

Original language	English
Article number	314
Number of pages	9
Journal	Communications Earth & Environment
Volume	4
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00961-9
Publication status	Published - Dec 2023

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10.1038/s43247-023-00961-9Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Record low Antarctic sea ice coverage indicates a new sea ice state",

abstract = "In February 2023, Antarctic sea ice set a record minimum; there have now been three record-breaking low sea ice summers in seven years. Following the summer minimum, circumpolar Antarctic sea ice coverage remained exceptionally low during the autumn and winter advance, leading to the largest negative areal extent anomalies observed over the satellite era. Here, we show the confluence of Southern Ocean subsurface warming and record minima and suggest that ocean warming has played a role in pushing Antarctic sea ice into a new low-extent state. In addition, this new state exhibits different seasonal persistence characteristics, suggesting that the underlying processes controlling Antarctic sea ice coverage may have altered.",

author = "Ariaan Purich and Doddridge, \{Edward W.\}",

note = "Funding Information: A.P. and E.W.D. are recipients of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP230102994) funded by the Australian Government. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative for Securing Antarctica{\textquoteright}s Environmental Future (SR200100005). This project received grant funding from the Australian Government as part of the Antarctic Science Collaboration Initiative program (ASCI000002). We thank Julie Arblaster for insightful discussions and Vaughn Grey for assistance with the change point detection. We also thank Zach Labe for his Antarctic sea ice visualisations shared on Twitter (@ZLabe) that inspired Fig. . We thank four anonymous reviewers for insightful comments. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, Springer Nature Limited.",

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doi = "10.1038/s43247-023-00961-9",

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AU - Doddridge, Edward W.

N1 - Funding Information: A.P. and E.W.D. are recipients of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP230102994) funded by the Australian Government. This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative for Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SR200100005). This project received grant funding from the Australian Government as part of the Antarctic Science Collaboration Initiative program (ASCI000002). We thank Julie Arblaster for insightful discussions and Vaughn Grey for assistance with the change point detection. We also thank Zach Labe for his Antarctic sea ice visualisations shared on Twitter (@ZLabe) that inspired Fig. . We thank four anonymous reviewers for insightful comments. Publisher Copyright: © 2023, Springer Nature Limited.

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N2 - In February 2023, Antarctic sea ice set a record minimum; there have now been three record-breaking low sea ice summers in seven years. Following the summer minimum, circumpolar Antarctic sea ice coverage remained exceptionally low during the autumn and winter advance, leading to the largest negative areal extent anomalies observed over the satellite era. Here, we show the confluence of Southern Ocean subsurface warming and record minima and suggest that ocean warming has played a role in pushing Antarctic sea ice into a new low-extent state. In addition, this new state exhibits different seasonal persistence characteristics, suggesting that the underlying processes controlling Antarctic sea ice coverage may have altered.

AB - In February 2023, Antarctic sea ice set a record minimum; there have now been three record-breaking low sea ice summers in seven years. Following the summer minimum, circumpolar Antarctic sea ice coverage remained exceptionally low during the autumn and winter advance, leading to the largest negative areal extent anomalies observed over the satellite era. Here, we show the confluence of Southern Ocean subsurface warming and record minima and suggest that ocean warming has played a role in pushing Antarctic sea ice into a new low-extent state. In addition, this new state exhibits different seasonal persistence characteristics, suggesting that the underlying processes controlling Antarctic sea ice coverage may have altered.

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Record low Antarctic sea ice coverage indicates a new sea ice state

Abstract

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Southern Ocean Sea Ice – what happened and what happens next?

SAEF: Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future – An Evidence-Based, Informatics Approach

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Record low Antarctic sea ice coverage indicates a new sea ice state

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Projects

Southern Ocean Sea Ice – what happened and what happens next?

SAEF: Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future – An Evidence-Based, Informatics Approach

Cite this