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Potential regime shift in decreased sea ice production after the Mertz Glacier calving

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posted on 2023-05-17, 12:12 authored by Tamura, T, Guy Williams, Alexander FraserAlexander Fraser, Ohshima, KI
Variability in dense shelf water formation can potentially impact Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) production, a vital component of the global climate system. In East Antarctica, the George V Land polynya system (142–150°E) is structured by the local ‘icescape’, promoting sea ice formation that is driven by the offshore wind regime. Here we present the first observations of this region after the repositioning of a large iceberg (B9B) precipitated the calving of the Mertz Glacier Tongue in 2010. Using satellite data, we find that the total sea ice production for the region in 2010 and 2011 was 144 and 134 km3, respectively, representing a 14–20% decrease from a value of 168 km3 averaged from 2000–2009. This abrupt change to the regional icescape could result in decreased polynya activity, sea ice production, and ultimately the dense shelf water export and AABW production from this region for the coming decades.

History

Publication title

Nature Communications

Article number

826

Number

826

Pagination

1-6

ISSN

2041-1723

Department/School

Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Place of publication

online

Rights statement

Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

Repository Status

  • Open

Socio-economic Objectives

Antarctic and Southern Ocean oceanic processes

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