Changing fast and slow: Hydrographic variability along the West Antarctic Peninsula Shelf during the recent sea ice extremes

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• Carlos Moffat, University of Delaware
• Friday 07 June 2024, 13:00-14:00
• BAS Seminar Room 330b; https://bas-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/98020253131.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Dr Birgit Rogalla.

Antarctic sea ice extent has been anomalously low since 2016, and reached extreme circumpolar minima in 2022/23. The causes of this change are the subject of lively scientific debate, including the relative roles of atmospheric and ocean processes in modulating sea ice evolution. The role of the ocean is particularly challenging to address due to the lack of sustained oceanographic data under the ice. Here, we examine the ocean’s response and potential role in the extreme sea ice minima using data collected by the Palmer Long-Term Ecological Research program and BAS along the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP). This region has undergone dramatic change during many decades, including atmospheric and deep ocean warming, glacier retreat, and sea ice loss even prior to the most recent minima. Our observations show the extreme sea ice minimum followed after sustained wind anomalies that modulate ice advection, and occurred as the upper ocean stratification that typically prevents the ventilation of warm Circumpolar Deep Water to the surface broke down. We also show that this event reverted decades of upper-ocean change along the WAP .

This talk is part of the British Antarctic Survey - Polar Oceans seminar series series.

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